We're All Mad Here
by startscribbling12
Summary: Skyview Asylum is a corrupt and dark place. That is, until Zelda takes it by storm. A caring and doting nurse, she forms relationships with the once neglected patients. But what if those corrupt individuals try to use one of her relationships against her? Link/Zelda
1. Chapter 1

It was a crisp winter evening. Christmas was around three weeks away and the small town was filled with Christmas lights and decorations. It had that feeling that one felt when watching Christmas movies; warm and fuzzy despite the brisk winter air. It was dark outside and the parking lot was nearly empty, give or take a few cars. The decorated streets could be seen in the distance but no one bothered to decorate near here. In the dark, a sign with the words 'Skyview' could be seen, but just barely. Anyone driving by might not even see the sad looking building that is next to the parking lot.

Zelda slammed her car door behind her, nuzzling closer into her scarf as the tip of her nose chilled in the cold air. Thankfully, her ears were covered by her long blonde hair as she forgot a hat this evening in her rush to get here. Her small heels echoed in the night as she headed for the front doors of Skyview. She was alone in the dark parking lot and it made her feel some sense of unease. The small town of Hyrule wasn't known to be unsafe, but being this far away from the main area of town did get her nerves in a bunch. She clutched her bag closer to her side as she sped up her pace, reaching the front door a bit faster.

The dull lighting of the building made her feel a bit better, even though the atmosphere wasn't any better than the outside of the place. To her left there was a small front desk that sat the receptionist. A girl with fiery red hair sat at the desk, typing away furiously. She seemed focused on whatever task at hand, ignoring the fact that her nurses' hat was slipping from her head. It was only when Zelda tapping on the desk in front of her that she snapped her head up to look.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I hope you haven't been standing there long," she said, adjusting her uniform, giving her full attention to Zelda. Although apologetic, she had a cheery smile on her face.

"Don't worry, I just got here. I'm Zelda. I applied to volunteer here until the end of the year," Zelda responded with an equal smile. To her, it seemed like this girl seemed quite out of place in the dull environment.

The red-head sifted through her papers quickly before finally pulling a few out and clipping them onto a clipboard.

"That's right," she said as Zelda took the board. "I'm Malon. I work here as a receptionist usually. I'm going to need you to fill out these papers before I can give you your uniform and explain your duties."

Zelda looked through the papers before raising an eyebrow.

"I already filled out paperwork like this."

Malon shrugged with a sigh, "I know. I felt the same way. It's all legal stuff. It's dumb to have to fill it out again, but rules are rules."

Zelda gave her another smile before taking a seat near the window. The seat itself was made of uncomfortable plastic and it was hard to find a position to fill out the paperwork in, but Zelda made it work. She placed her bag on the seat next to her before she began to fill out her information on the papers labeled 'Skyview Asylum'.

Once she was done, she handed the papers back to Malon who then called the security guard to take her place at the desk as she showed Zelda around the small building. They first went to the employee lounge where Zelda's uniform and employee handbook were waiting.

"You know, most people don't volunteer at a place like this," Malon said as they were on their way. "I read your profile. With your grades, you could have gotten a job at some nice, state run place."

Zelda let out a chuckle. "My psych professor said the same thing. But you know, I don't really care about good pay or anything like that. It's places like these that need more help since the state doesn't really help them out."

Malon let out a whistle. "Wow, you're a good person."

"Not really," Zelda shrugged. "I guess I'm just in a position to do something."

Malon nodded thoughtfully before opening the door to the employee lounge, revealing a white room lit by florescent lights. Pale green lockers lined the walls and there was a round table in the middle with a few chairs around it. There was a small fridge and a microwave in one corner, Zelda noted.

Grabbing the white uniform, Malon handed it to Zelda. It was a simple white nurses' outfit with a skirt instead of pants and a nametag to go along with it.

"You can wear a cardigan with it if you'd like, any color is allowed," Malon said before grabbing a manilla folder. "In this is the details of your duties around here. You've requested to work the late shift, so you'll be scheduled with me most of the time!"

Zelda tossed the uniform around in her hands before looking up at Malon and taking the folder with a raised eyebrow. "Is it just us here for this shift?"

"Well, us and the security guard. Sometimes the doctor stays, but I guess he does what he feels like. It's usually up to us to take care of the patients during the late night hours. However, they are usually in bed so our job, well _yours_, is just to make sure they are in their rooms every few hours."

Zelda didn't say anything to that but instead opened the folder and looked through her assignments. There wasn't much for her to do since she wasn't licensed to prescribe medication or give any special medical treatment besides CPR and standard first aid.

"Ward D? That's where I'm assigned?" Zelda asked, looking to Malon for explanation.

"Ah, yeah. To be honest, the people who work here are pretty shitty. I actually pushed for you to work that ward..."

"Why? What's that ward?"

Malon crossed her arms, pulling her orange cardigan closer. "It's the ward that holds the people that could be a danger to themselves. More so than others I guess. They really need someone who is willing to understand them, and well...most of the people who work here don't actually care about the patients."

Zelda furrowed her eyebrows before looking at Malon with a determined smile.

"Well, that's why I applied to this place anyway! To help out where it's most needed. I'll do any task."

Malon clapped her hands together with visible relief. With that out of the way, Malon decided to show Zelda the rest of the building, explaining how to get into each ward with her keycard and where all the emergency exits and phones were. She explained what to do in the situation of an emergency and when to call the doctor or an ambulance. Lastly she handed Zelda a small packet of the patients in Ward D for her to study before her first day.

"This is a small list, isn't it?" Zelda asked.

"This is a small place. There aren't too many people who last long in Ward D either," Malon said solemnly. "They usually get really bad since they don't have proper care and get sent off somewhere else."

The two of them were back at the front desk by this point and Malon sent the security officer away as Zelda pulled on her coat.

"I hope you're not rethinking your decision to work here. We really need someone like you, I think. The doctor is pretty corrupt and won't assign me to any wards because he knows I want to take care of the patients," Malon said, taking a seat behind her desk, sipping her coffee.

Zelda smiled at the girl.

"It just made my resolve stronger. Don't worry, I'll show up for work tomorrow night."

Malon beamed at her before waving her off.

Zelda stepped into the cold night air, pulling her scarf close to her nose as she always does before walking off to her car at the back of the parking lot. Her car was a sad piece of work, older than her by probably twenty years. She was lucky that the person she bought it from took care of it. The door was a little hard to open as she jiggled it a couple of times before climbing inside and turning on the heat. She warmed her hands by blowing into them before glancing at the clock.

It was almost midnight.

She had no idea what was going inside the workings of Skyview Asylum but she knew that she needed to be here. It wouldn't be easy. It wouldn't be fun. And she figured if what Malon said was true about the doctors then she would make enemies too.

Pulling her long hair into a bun, she pulled out the packet and turned on the inside light to read over the patients profiles before she drove home. There were only five people in Ward D, but all of them seemed to have pretty severe problems.

* * *

NAME: **Ames, Navi**

AGE: **18 Years Old**

_Patient of Skyview for 8 months_

DIAGNOSIS: _Patient exhibits signs for Antisocial Personality Disorder. Patient has a low patience threshold and will continuously resort to violence when frustrated. Is very impulsive and does not like to conform to social norms, continuously yelling out basic words in order to frustrate other patients. Shows signs of the Subtype Covetous: Envious, greedy, and always yearning for more. _

_**Take caution when dealing with patient. Do not bring valuables into room. Do not speak with patient more than necessary. **_

NAME: **Tingle (**_**Real name is unknown**_**)**

AGE: **35 Years Old  
**_Patient of Skyview for 6 years_

DIAGNOSIS:_ Patient exhibits signs of_ _Schizophrenia. Has the belief that fairies are real and demands to always wear green clothing due to the fact that he believes he can join them. Does not understand the real reality and refuses to conform to any type of treatment. Shows signs of extreme paranoia because he believes the doctors are trying to prevent him from finding the fairies._

_**Although not a danger to others, can be a danger to himself when he is in states of paranoia or confusion. Take caution when dealing with him and do not indulge in his fantasies. **_

NAME: **Lockwood, Agitha**  
AGE: **10**

_Patient of Skyview for 4 months_

DIAGNOSIS: _Patient suffers from Anorexia Nervosa due to her entomomania: abnormal love for bugs. She also is showing signs for a form of schizophrenia due to her belief that she is the princess of bugs. She believes that by not eating human food she can join the world of the bugs where she belongs. _

_**Closely monitor the food intake of the patient. Do not treat her any different due to her young age. **_

NAME: **Norwood, Ghirahim  
**AGE: **25  
**_Patient of Skyview for 6 years_

DIAGNOSIS: _Patient exhibits signs of Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Gets angry all the way to points of rage that are not proportionate to the situation at hand. Is unable to function in normal situations due to minuscule things setting off his anger. _

_**Extreme caution when dealing with patient. Is not allowed to go anywhere without supervision due to violent tendencies. **_

NAME: **Forrest, Link  
**AGE: **21  
**_Patient of Skyview for 5 years_

DIAGNOSIS: _Patient is diagnosed with Borderline Personality disorder. Does not have control of basic emotions such as anger or sadness when triggered and often has reactions to trivial things that would not bother the average person. Has poor self image and can be impulsive. Has attempted suicide before being admitted. _

_**Although not usually a danger to others, must always be mindful of words as to not set patient off. Monitor him daily to make sure he is not a danger to himself.**_

* * *

Zelda scanned these documents with interest. There were many disorders that she had read about but never actually met anyone who had them. She was also surprised by the age difference between the patients there. She guessed she shouldn't have been surprised due to the small down and the fact that their families must not have wanted to send them away to a state institution. Although nothing on the sheet was surprising, she was disturbed by the doctors notes on the bottom. The instructions that she was given for each patient would make her come off as a cold and uncaring nurse. What these people needed was someone to care about them, not some jail warden.

She let out a sign before placing the folder in the seat next to her and driving off into the darkness to go home. She needed a full nights rest as tomorrow night would be a long night.

* * *

_Hello everyone! I hope you are all interested in reading my new fanfiction. I've never actually written LoZ before, nor have I played all the games. I've just really started getting into it and I've had this story idea in my head for weeks now that I had to write it down and share with all of you. _

_I'm studying abroad in Japan right now, so I might not be updating too quickly as I am very busy. No less than once a month, hopefully every two weeks is my goal. I really hope you review and give me feedback. I'm pulling my knowledge for Link's illness from my mothers, so please bear with me! _


	2. Chapter 2

Zelda pulled into the dark parking lot that she would soon become familiar with. The snow was a bit a heavier today and she cursed herself for wearing the red heels to match her cardigan rather than snow boots. It would have been smarter to just change inside. The dull lighting of Skyview made everything seem gray. It wasn't a pleasing atmosphere but Zelda knew she would have to get used to it.

Malon sat at her usual place, her cardigan drooping off of her as she furiously typed away at her keyboard. Zelda wondered what she could be doing. Based on what she knew of the place, the doctors didn't care about the patients so there shouldn't be too much paperwork to be filing. She tapped on the desk as she walked by to get the girl's attention.

Malon smiled sheepishly, "evening, Zelda. Ready for a long night?"

"That I am. You know, someone could easily slip in here past you. What in the world are you doing on there?" Zelda asked, swinging her purse from arm to arm.

"You're going to knock things off the desk like that," Malon playfully glared, "and it's top secret. Maybe I'll tell you eventually."

Rolling her eyes, Zelda turned around to head towards the employee lounge to only almost run into the doctor. As she looked up at him, she noticed that he was quite scary looking. He was big boned and heavy set at that. His tall stature and wide shoulders gave him a menacing feel. His doctors coat was slightly dirty from the lack of upkeep with it. He had a clipboard in hand and was glaring down at Zelda.

"You must be the new nurse," he said, slamming the clipboard on the front desk. Malon scrambled to take it and began entering the information into the computer.

Already from his tone, she knew that she would not get along well with this man. He was trying to instill fear in her already but she was not going to have any of it. She stood up straight and held her bag close to her, looking him dead in the eye.

"I am. My name is Zelda Nohansen."

The doctor a sinister smile and Zelda could hear Malon shift uncomfortably in her chair. He held out his hand for Zelda to take and she accepted with, shaking with a firm grasp.

"You may call me Doctor Ganondorf," he told her before painfully releasing her hand and heading over to take his coat and hat off the hanger near the door. "Now, I trust you will follow all my instructions on the paper faithfully. We have a strict system around here and I can't have you coming in and screwing everything I worked for up. These patients need the care that I provide for them and only the way that I provide for them otherwise they will not get better, understand?"

The words came out taunting, almost as if he was talking to someone that couldn't understand the same language as him or was a toddler. Zelda clenched her jaw together so she didn't say something that would get her fired on the first day.

"Understood," was all she said as he nodded to the both of them before disappearing into the night, leaving Malon and Zelda to care for the place until dawn.

"He scares me," Malon muttered as she slid the clipboard into the filling cabinet behind her.

Zelda gave her a smile. "Don't let him. That's how he is getting what he wants. You don't need to risk your job or anything but don't let him manipulate you."

Malon gave a weak smile to that and Zelda returned it before heading to the employee lounge to place her stuff in a locker and grab a cup off coffee. She was already in a bad mood thanks to Ganondorf. He had an air of cruelty to him that Zelda had never encountered before. It felt like pure evil. She made a mental note to remember that he was an expert manipulator. She could tell that right off the bat. Reading him wasn't that hard.

Tossing the empty cup in the trash, Zelda fixed her uniform before grabbing her keycard and heading back out into the lobby.

"I just have to do one run through every hour, correct?" Zelda made sure she understood her duties.

Malon rested her chin on her palm and nodded. "That's right. The first hour is lights out, so you have to make sure everyone gets ready for bed and the lights are off. Every hour after that you just have to make sure no one is messing around or awake. The next shift wakes everyone up."

"Got it," she said before heading off to the double doors that sealed off Ward D.

It was too quiet for comfort, Zelda thought. It was not how she pictured it. Once the doors shut behind her she felt like she was in a different world. Some place unknown and unsafe. She knew she was alright because the security guard was watching everything through the cameras, but that didn't ease her nerves. The dull, florescent lights just made everything seem more gray. The thick iron doors that lined the walls were menacing.

Taking a deep breath, Zelda walked to the first door on her left. She stood on her tiptoes to look inside and she could make out a figure sitting on the bed, huddled into the corner of the wall. He was rocking slightly but nothing other than that. She unlocked the door via her keycard and slowly opened the door to not startle the man inside.

"Hello," she said as sweet as she could, clasping her hands in front of her.

The man looked up and she immediately knew it was Tingle. He was the oldest of the patients here so it wasn't hard to pick him out.

"W-Who are you?" he asked quietly.

Zelda smiled, taking a seat on the edge of his bed, but not too close as she didn't want to invade his space.

"My name is Zelda. I'm here to take care of you."

He adjusted his whole body to face her then, a huge grin glossing over his face. He looked like a kid on Christmas, ready to open his presents.

"The fairies must have sent you, I know it! They sent you to protect me!" he cheered.

Zelda shushed him, needing him to lower his voice as he didn't startle anyone else in the ward.

"Protect you?" she asked then once he had quieted down.

"It's scary here and people don't believe me and my fairies. Well, everyone besides Mr. Link. He's always encouraging. He protects me from the Evil King."

Zelda assumed that the Evil King was Ganondorf and she resisted the urge to shake Tingle for answers right then and there.

"Well, Tingle, you are right about one thing: I am here to protect you. If anything is troubling you, please tell me. But for now, I need you to go to sleep."

Tingle nodded his head furiously, quickly covering himself under the blankets. He smiled up at Zelda as she stood from the bed, making sure everything in the room was in order.

"Thank you Miss Zelda! I knew the fairies listened to my call!"

Zelda politely shushed him once again and he mimicked the gesture before rolling over to get into bed. Flipping the switch off, she made sure the door was locked behind her before peering into the other rooms. Most of the lights were off in the rest of the ward.

All but two.

Zelda headed for the first door since the second one was all the way near the exit doors. She peered inside through the glass window and knew instantly by the small form that this was Agitha's room. Exhaling a bit, she scanned her keycard and slowly opened the door. The young girl turned to face the opening door, as if no one had ever done this before.

"Who are you?" her small voice said.

"I'm Zelda," she said, walking around and observing the room. "I'm your new nurse."

Agitha just looked at Zelda for a few moments before turning around and going back to doing whatever she was doing in the corner. From what Zelda could tell, she was malnourished. There was the ignorant thought that children couldn't form eating disorders, or any disorder for that matter, but it was a bold faced lie. Zelda would have known something was wrong even if she had never read the girl's file.

"I came to tell you that it's time for light's out now."

Agitha narrowed her eyes and didn't turn to look back at Zelda. "I can't. They need me."

Zelda walked a bit closer, though not too close for comfort, and crouched down to Agitha's level.

"Who needs you?"

"The bugs. I have to take care of them. They wake up at night."

Zelda smiled to herself. Her file was not kidding when they said she truly believed she could be one with them. Her reaction wasn't that much of a surprise to Zelda.

"But if you are tired, you can't take care of them well, now can you?"

As Agitha turned around to look at Zelda through the corner of her eye, Zelda could tell that she didn't care for a word that was coming out of her mouth. Agitha was going to do what she believed she needed to do and she wasn't going to listen to some nurse.

That had nothing to do with her mental issue, she was just a child.

Standing from her spot, she stomped over to her bed and tucked herself in, irritably looking at Zelda to turn the lights off and leave. Unfazed by her tantrum, Zelda wished her goodnight and quietly closed the door behind her. She knew very well that Agitha wasn't going to bed. She also knew that her stand-off behavior wasn't her true personality.

She would be like that too so someone telling her what to do.

Sighing to herself and glancing at her watch, it had been close to a half an hour that she started this round. She wanted to finish this up so she had some break time before her next round. She knew she would have to put Agitha back to bed again.

There was no movement in the last room, yet the light was on. Zelda assumed that the person had fallen asleep with the lights on. Logically, Zelda figured that there would be a light switch outside the rooms so they didn't have to wake the patients coming in and out. Zelda assumed the lack of that was because the doctor wanted to bother the patients as much as possible.

Cracking the door open, Zelda shuffled her way in, her heels making more noise than she had anticipated. Zelda gritted her teeth. She didn't want to wake the poor person up if they were already in bed. She crossed the room as silently as possible as she headed for the light-switch.

"You're not being quiet at all, you know," a deep voice rang out.

Zelda squeaked a tad, not expecting the person to be awake. She turned around with a gentle smile on her face as usual to meet the gaze of a young blond man. He was propped up in bed, looking at her with interest.

"I've never seen you before."

"I'm the new nurse Zelda. Sorry if I woke you. I was trying to be as quiet as possible." She relaxed a bit now after being startled and racked her brain for who this was. "You're Link, right?"

"Yes ma'am," he said with a smirk, though it didn't come across as cocky in any way. It was sort of playful.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. I'll be here from now on at this time, not that we have time to socialize. It's lights out now."

Link sat up completely in bed now, focusing his attention on her. "So it's going to be you who is here from now on all the time? Not the nurse from before?"

Zelda shook her head, "no just me. Why?"

Link shrugged, falling back into bed again, limbs flailing as he relaxed. "Nothing important. I just didn't like him. He was an asshole. It was like he was always pushing my buttons on purpose."

Zelda noted that as well. She hadn't even been here a few hours and she already had a list of things that she could tell was wrong with this place.

"I see. Well you don't have to worry. I'm not like that." She smiled again at the young man on the bed before resting her hand on the light switch to turn it off. "It is lights out time, so we can talk more next time when I have an earlier shift."

"Sure," was all he said in reply before turning over in bed.

Zelda clicked the light off before heading out the door and closing it behind her. She took a deep breath before going out the main doors and taking a seat behind the desk with Malon.

"It was only making sure they were asleep and you're already exhausted?" Malon asked, noting Zelda's posture.

"No, it's not that. It's just...I didn't interact with all the patients, but the ones that I did, well, either they trusted me way too much or not at all. That really gives me suspicion about how they were treated before hand. It might be difficult to build relationships."

Malon stopped clicking away at her keyboard and gave Zelda a reassuring smile.

"I've got a good feeling about you. Try taking up some shifts during the day on the weekends when you don't have class. The patients don't really like to be told to go to bed because it's the only time they got peace before. They might associate you with bad things if you are only there at night, I don't know. It might be easy to build relationships then if you are here during the day."

Zelda puffed out her lip, "I guess your right."

"Besides, I'm planning on having a Christmas Party for the patients in a week or so. I just have to get it approved. I'd appreciate your help with it."

"Hey," Zelda said, giving her a sly smirk, "Christmas parties are my specialty."

* * *

_I'm so sorry for the wait everyone. And it's not even long or good!_

_I wanted to get this up before I went to Tokyo two weeks ago but it didn't happen and then things got super busy here in Japan. I'm going home to America in two weeks so I should be able to write faster and better though my next update won't be till I'm back in the states._

_It won't be a long story, per say. Maybe 12 chapters or so? I hope you liked it, even though it wasn't the best chapter. _


	3. Chapter 3

Zelda had been working for almost a week at Skyview. She finally convinced Ganondorf to assign her to an earlier shift at least once a week. She knew he was against it considering she would have more time to talk to the patients if that was the case. However, his irritation with her did not bother her. It was something that she had prepared herself for before she started working here. She knew that this place was mostly ignored by the state, therefore that was the very reason that she applied here in the first place.

Malon hadn't come in to start her shift yet, so there weren't many people for her to converse with. Many of the other staff members were afraid of getting on good terms with Zelda in case Ganondorf didn't approve of it. The patients weren't very active after dinner and usually kept to their rooms. Zelda had popped into Agitha's room for a while to chat with her, but Agitha was still a bit standoff-ish. She didn't want much to do with Zelda, although she did lighten up slightly when Zelda showed interest in her bugs.

Zelda did stop into Tingle's room to make sure he was okay. He did not seem afraid of anything today and was very interested in telling Zelda his stories of fairies. She had heard that he was difficult to give his medication to, as he claimed it stopped him from conversing with the fairies, but it was easier to get him to take it if she showed interest in what he had to say.

After she was done talking to Tingle, she decided that she would stop by Navi's room. She never got a chance to speak with her before because she was always in bed before her rounds on the late shift. She didn't know much about her besides the fact that she was younger than her and whatever else was on the chart.

When she walked out into the hall, there was much more excitement than usual. And it wasn't wanted excitement either. Most of the patients were peeking into the hall to see what the commotion was all about. Ghirahim was standing in his doorway, hand on his hip, and an irritated expression on his face. He looked like he was about to explode. From Navi's door across the hall, Zelda could hear Navi yelling "hey!" over and over in the same tone of voice. Every time Ghirahim tried to speak she would just scream louder and make him more and more ready to pop.

Quickly walking over there, Zelda shut Navi's door, deciding to deal with her after she calmed Ghirahim down. Based on his file, she was initially surprised that he hadn't exploded already until she looked into his room to see that he punched the wall in his frustration and his fist was bleeding. Clicking the small button on her radio which was a silent signal to come to the ward, she tried to calm him down until security arrived.

"Ghirahim, it's alright. Navi was just trying to tease you, that's all," Zelda said slowly, holding her hands up in a motion talk represented calming down.

He narrowed his eyes at her angrily, "no she was doing it to start a fight. I'm not fucking stupid."

"I'm sure it was just a childish game, nothing more. Why don't you-"

Ghirahim raised his hands to hit Zelda and she flinched, taking a few steps back and raising her hands to protect her face. Though the blow never came. When she opened her eyes to see what had happened, Link had stepped in and grabbed Ghirahim's forearm, stopping him in his tracks.

"You-" Ghirahim said sharply. "You're always meddling in my affairs."

Link rolled his eyes. "Leave her alone. She's just doing her job. She doesn't need some asshole like you giving her trouble."

Zelda gritted her teeth. Even though Link stepped in, his behavior wasn't really helping either. Like Navi, he was just egging Ghirahim on instead of helping him calm down.

Before the situation could escalate anymore, security had ran in, taking both Ghirahim and Link into restraints.

"Hey!" Zelda protested. "Don't handle them like that!"

The security guard glared at Zelda. "Don't tell us how to do our job, ma'am. These two need to be restrained."

"Link didn't even do anything. He stopped the conflict before it started."

The guard shook his head as he lead the two men out of the ward. "Dr. Ganondorf's orders. Zero tolerance for physical confrontations."

Once the two were gone, everyone retreated back to their rooms as Zelda let out a sigh. She didn't really know what to do. She understood Ghirahim needed to be taken away not only for medical aid, but to be separated to help him calm down, but there was no reason to take Link away too. And neither of them had to be violently taken away like that.

Looking at her watch, her noticed her shift was almost over. She had to go into Navi's room and figure out what had happened and why Navi had continued a confrontation like that. She needed to avoid situations like that, especially if she wanted to keep her job. Surely she would be blamed for the situation.

When Zelda entered Navi's room, Navi was hanging upside on her bed, her blue hair falling all on the floor.

"Ah, it's you," she said, giving Zelda no real emotion whatsoever.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Zelda said, trying to sound her perkiest. The situation just before sort of tired her out.

"Likewise," Navi said, though it didn't sound very true.

"What in the world happened?" Zelda asked as she took a seat on the chair next to the door. Wrapping her cardigan around her and adjusting her cap, she signaled that she was not leaving until she got the story that she wanted.

Navi shrugged. "Nothing. Ghirahim needs to be put in his place, that's all."

"And why were you trying to do that?"

"He called me annoying and ugly. So I acted annoying just to piss him off. He needs to learn that he can't say whatever he wants."

Zelda shook her head. "You do know you are making the situation worse, right? Egging him on like that just makes him explode."

"Well good. It'll get him out of this ward. He isn't helping us at all. He just causes trouble on purpose."

"Why?"

Navi groaned, obviously not happy to talk about this. Though it didn't prevent her from bad mouthing Ghirahim. Zelda surmised that was the only reason she was speaking to her in the first place.

"Because Ghirahim is Ganondorf's lapdog."

That perked Zelda's attention. Ganondorf was working with one of the patients that he hated so much? That was not something that she thought would be happening.

"How so?"

Navi shook her head. "If I knew that, I would have stopped it by now, duh. Do you think I want to be in this stupid fucking ward? I'm dying to go to A."

Zelda could tell that Navi was quickly loosing her patience and decided that it would be best to drop it there. Standing, she smiled at the younger girl.

"Thanks for explaining it to me, Navi. Just try to keep the situation calm next time before I can intervene. It's my job to keep you all happy and safe."

It seemed like that comment took Navi off guard but she looked away and grunted. Zelda smiled to herself before letting herself out of the room and heading back to the employee's lounge to grab her stuff.

The relationship between Ganondorf and Ghirahim intrigued Zelda. She needed to know what was going on between the two of them and that could be a key in solving the problems of this institution. This would require some necessary research in the public files down at city hall, but Zelda didn't mind. She also had some influential contacts she could get in touch with.

She let out a sigh before heading back out to the lobby to say her farewell to Malon before leaving for the night.

"Hey Zel!" Malon said before looking at her with a frown. "You look pretty tired out. You okay?"

"There was a fight between Navi and Ghirahim and then Link got involved. It was just rough. I need to get my thoughts together on the situation."

"Ghirahim is scary, I'm surprised you aren't more shaken up."

Truth be told she was shaken, but she didn't want to show it.

"On a brighter note, here's a packet full of ideas for the party. Can you look it over and see if you can help with anything?" Malon smiled cheekily.

Zelda grinned back. "No problem. I'll take a look when I get home."

"Whoopie!"

* * *

_Woo. Sorry it's been a little over a month! And it's short! When I got back from Japan I didn't really want to write as I was catching back up with America and my life. And then school started and I had to get into the swing of things here. Actually I'm in class right now! I couldn't really think of what I wanted to write. But I hope you are all still around!_

_On a side note, if you don't mind, can you check out my youtube channel? Just search for Neena Jenkins. That's my youtube name. I'm making videos to help promote happiness and self-love. It's a new channel so I don't have much up but I should be uploading every Sunday and Wednesday. It would mean a lot if you watched and told people about it if you like it since I want to help as many people as I can with my experiences and advice and things! _

_Thanks guys!_


	4. Chapter 4

Trying to get public information on Ganondorf was actually more difficult than Zelda first expected. A lot of the information was scarce and vague if anything. She learned where he graduated from and where he got his credentials. The university he graduated from wasn't amazing at all. That explained why he worked at Skyview instead of some five star hospital. But other than that, there were no articles about him that shamed his name or things of that nature.

She knew there had to be something. There was something that she was missing. Zelda had no idea how she was missing anything. The amount of newspapers and yearbooks that she had piled around her was immense. If she was missing anything that would be because she was looking for the wrong person.

That was when she remembered Ghirahim. She could not believe that she forgot to draw information about him. And she had no idea how she was going to find anything about him. She didn't know one thing about him. So she decided if she could find the link between Ganondorf and Ghirahim using what she pulled on the doctor.

It took hours. Hours upon hours that she could have been using to study for her classes. Someone else would have said that this was no where near as important as her studies but she had to disagree. People's care was at stake here. She needed to know what the actual corruption was at Skyview before she could put in a complaint. No one would listen to the girl who cried wolf.

Eventually she found a small news article in a newspaper that was almost seven years old. Ghirahim's name was mentioned as he committed an act of violence against a woman in a store. She wasn't dead (which was probably why the article was so small) but she suffered severe injuries and was blinded by him. They claimed that Ghirahim was smiling when he did it, which caused accusations that he was insane. Ganondorf is mentioned in the article was the doctor who was a hero, volunteering to treat him for free and help him get over the violent tendencies and whatever mental illness he had instead of being put into the prison system.

The woman is what drew Zelda's attention. The woman's name was Nabooru. Zelda quickly asked the receptionist to help her find files on this woman and it wasn't as hard to find information on her as it was Ganondorf or Ghirahim.

Nabooru was a woman who graduated alongside Ganondorf at the same university but instead of finishing there, she went on and got more education before establishing her own hospital which was known for stealing Ganodorf's patients. Not only that, but she openly did interviews that called out Ganondorf and his practices.

That's when Zelda put the pieces together. He must of asked Ghirahim to attempt to kill Nabooru so he could raise his standing with the rest of society so he could continue doing whatever it was that he was trying to accomplish.

But that didn't explain why Ghirahim was so willing to help Ganondorf then. It was clear why they were in league together now: Ghirahim owed Ganondorf for keeping him out of prison. But it would have been Ganondorf's fault that he was in prison in the first place.

So why?

Zelda rubbed her eyes. She had been at this all day and she needed time to study for classes tomorrow. She needed her rest so she could focus and do her job tomorrow as well. She did feel accomplished, however, and knew that she was one step closer to figuring this out.

Making photocopies of the information she found, she finished up and headed out of the building, ready to take on whatever hit her next.

* * *

"Welcome back to the late shift, Zel," Malon said with a grin. "It's been a few days since we have had a shift together."

"Evening, Malon," Zelda greeted, leaning on the desk. "Has Ganondorf already left."

"Yep, you just missed him."

Zelda let out a sigh. With all this information that she currently knew, she didn't know if she could face him without screaming in his face. She had to take this as fast as possible but also as slow as possible. She couldn't let Ganondorf know she knew anything otherwise he would fire her. She needed to be here to understand what was going on.

"What happened to Link and Ghirahim after the other day?"

"Ghirahim is back in his room, unsurprisingly. Link is still in the dark cell."

"Dark cell?"

Malon nodded with a sad face. She knew just as well as Zelda did that Link did nothing wrong and didn't deserve to be separated like this when Ghirahim was already back in his room.

"Yeah, it's a small cell with no windows and no bed or anything like that. Basically like solitary confinement. Though according to my records, I'm supposed to let him out tonight. If you'd like, I can let you do that."

Zelda beamed. "Can I? I have things I want to ask him."

"Of course, girl," Malon giggled, handing the set of iron keys to Zelda.

Thanking her, Zelda headed off to the lounge to change into the whole uniform and locking her stuff away before leaving to get Link. She would do her rounds after she put him back in his room.

The dark cells were in a hall in a part of the hospital that Zelda never would have ever thought of going. She didn't even know that there was a wing this far back in the building. It smelled of wetness. Zelda didn't really know if there was a word for the smell that it had. It was akin to that of humidity, even though it was quite cold down there due to it being late December.

Link's cell was the last one, as the rest of the doors were open. She didn't even bother knocking first or calling out to him. Unlocking the door, she peering in and opened the door slowly, knowing light could really bother his eyes as he was down there for a few days.

"Link?" she called with a whisper, even though she knew she wasn't breaking any rules and there was no one here who would get her in trouble.

"Oh, it's you."

Zelda pouted. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She watched as Link stood up in his cells and stretched, walking towards the now open door. Zelda had her cardigan wrapped around her tightly, as the temperature seemed to be dropping more and more as she stood there. Her skin had goosebumps all over.

"Nothing at all," he grinned. "Are you here to break me out?"

"I'm not _breaking _you out. It's time to let you out anyway. Though if I had known you were down here, I would have broken you out for sure." She stood out of the way to let him come out of the room. He had bags under his eyes and Zelda assumed he hadn't had any good sleep.

"Seriously?"

"Of course!"

"That's good to know," he rubbed the back of his neck. When his stomach growled loudly, a light blush dusted his cheeks. Zelda's eyes widened.

"When was the last time you ate?" Zelda exclaimed worridly.

"A few days ago."

Zelda was appalled. They would starve people who were down here? That was the most sickening thing she had heard today. Anger bubbled up inside her and she wrapped her arm around Link's as she pulled him out of the foul smelling wing.

"Woah, where are we going?"

"Getting you something to eat, of course!"

"You're not really supposed to do that."

"You're not supposed to starve people either, but Ganondorf seems to have no problems with that," Zelda growled. If she was looking at Link, she would see a grin grace his features as he allowed himself to be pulled by the blonde nurse.

They arrived at the cafeteria and Zelda flicked the lights on before leaving Link and heading into the kitchen. There wasn't much food left as they were near the end of their food cycle and they were due for a shipment in the morning. Zelda pulled some loaves of bread off the shelf and heated up a can of soup that was left on the shelf.

She heated things up quite quickly, as anger was coursing through her veins. She tried to steady her breathing so she didn't take her anger out on Link. She already felt guilty enough because he was protecting her. She didn't like being protected. She wanted to protect herself.

When she got back into the cafeteria, Link was leaning his head on the table. The lights weren't all on so it was quite dim in the room. Zelda placed the food in front of him with a glass of water and sat down in the chair next to him.

"Eat up!" Zelda said, attempting to sound cheery again. She could tell Link could see right through it, but she didn't care.

Link looked at her for a moment with apprehension before almost devouring the food. Watching him eat pained Zelda. She couldn't believe that this was something that she was dealing with right now. All of this because of Ganondorf. How many times were people starved?

"I'm sorry."

Link looked up, his mouth full of bread. He raised an eyebrow at her, confused.

"For what?" he asked.

"It's my fault you got in trouble."

He laughed at her, causing Zelda to give him a confused look.

"Zelda," she noted that this was the first time he said her name, "if I didn't want the consequences, I wouldn't have helped you."

Zelda knew that, but she still couldn't get over her feelings of guilt.

"I know, but still..."

"Stop worrying about it. I'm not mad at you. Ghirahim needs to get put in his place every one in a while. This isn't the first time it's happened. Though it is the first time that a lovely nurse has helped me out," he grinned.

Zelda blushed, a little taken aback. She didn't expect that type of compliment.

"I'm only doing what any decent human being would do."

"I guess there aren't many decent human beings who work here. Well, Malon's cool."

Zelda giggled a bit at the mention of Malon. She thought she was quite cool too. She knew she wanted to fix this place up, but she and Zelda were quite different in their methods. Malon was trying to host a party, Zelda was trying to lock up the head doctor. Malon's method was different but it was still quite helpful.

Link went back to eating his food as Zelda sat there in silence. Her hands were folded in her lap as she ran over the information from the previous day.

"What's on your mind?" Link asked her, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Oh, nothing," she said to him. She didn't want to burden him with all this. This was something that she was trying to do. She didn't need to bring others down with her. "I'm just overwhelmed with all the work I've been doing recently."

Link looked at her seriously. "Don't push yourself. You should do some of your work here, you know. No one here is going to give you any trouble. Well, Ghirahim might, but I'll keep him in line. That's my job."

Zelda raised a brow. "Your job? Link, you should be focusing on dealing with your illness and therapy, not other patients. That is _my_ job."

Link snorted when she said illness, as if that was something that didn't mean anything. "Don't worry. Ghirahim and I have been here the same amount of time. I'm the best at dealing with him when he starts trouble. I have no problem with getting in trouble when it comes to him."

He finished his food and stood up, taking his own dishes to the back before Zelda could disagree with him. She could tell he was quite courageous. He was willing to sacrifice his own treatment to take care of the other patients. That was very honorable of him. He came back out after he washed his own dishes and waited for Zelda to stand up. He couldn't get back to his wing without her.

"Thanks for the food. I really appreciate it." He smiled at her then, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling at him.

The two walked back together and when they passed through the main entrance area Link was a few steps ahead of Zelda and when she was digging through her pockets for her keycard, she happened to glance at Malon.

The look Malon gave her was not only a smile, but her eyes were devious. She was telling Zelda with her mind that she wanted answers as to why she was gone for almost twenty minutes. Zelda grinned sheepishly before picking up her pace to let Link into the ward, a blush evident on her features even through she didn't know why.

Link glanced back at Malon and Malon laughed aloud at Link, causing him to become confused and glance back at Zelda.

"Why is she laughing at me?"

Zelda buried her face into the door.

"I have _no _idea."

* * *

_I am so sorry this took so long. I'm a East Asian Studies Major and History Minor so I have a lot of reading and papers to do. This term is really exhausting and whenever I have free time I just want to sleep. I hope you are all still around. All of your reviews really push me to keep writing even though it takes me forever to update!_

_Please check out my youtube channel! Just type in youtube and add /hyperbananna at the end of it!_

_Thanks again everyone! I love you all!_


	5. Chapter 5

"I want answers now," Malon hissed through her teeth.

Zelda leaned on the front desk, a bored look on her face. She knew exactly what Malon was talking about but she didn't have anything to say. There was nothing going on between her and Link. That was a fact. But Malon seemed to disagree and had been bugging her about it since she got here to start her shift. In fact, Zelda seemed more interested in combing her fingers through her hair than listening to Malon about this subject.

"Stop ignoring me! I want to know why it took you twenty minutes to get Link from solitary yesterday."

Zelda huffed. She wasn't mad at her friend, but she could definitely say that she was annoyed for sure. There was something about the constant questions that bugged her.

"I told you, nothing happened. I found out that they were starving him so I got him some food before I brought him back," Zelda stuck her tongue out.

Malon did not seem convinced but she let the subject drop for now since Zelda had to do her rounds on the ward. Malon didn't seem mad at Zelda for being with Link. If anything, she seemed to be wanting material to tease Zelda with. The thought brought a blush to Zelda's cheeks that she quickly tried to push away. There would be no way that Zelda would even think about having that type of relationship while working here. She was already not wanted as is, she wasn't going to get fired over some boy.

"I'll see you in a bit. This isn't over!" Malon cried as Zelda walked to the doors. She just waved her hand back at the redhead as she swiped her keycard to let her into the hall. Things were quiet, though it was late at night so it was not much of a surprise. Ghirahim was quiet this time around and Zelda was thankful for that. She wasn't even willing to open his door to check on him because she knew he would pick a fight with her.

Deciding on a safer route, Zelda stopped by Tingle's room because she had some medication that she had to give him anyway. It had been a while since she had a conversation with the man and she kind of missed it. People might call him weird or crazy, but there was sort of an underlying kindness and warmth to him that Zelda liked. People just had to give him a chance.

She gently tapped on the door before unlocking it and letting herself inside. The lights were on and Tingle was sitting in a corner facing the wall. Zelda was worried at first before he faced her with a large smile.

"The fairies were just here, Miss Zelda!" he told her.

Zelda smiled gently back at him before taking a seat on the edge of his bed. She placed the medicine in her lap but she figured she could give it to him after they shared a little talk.

"Oh yeah? How were they?"

Tingle hobbled over to the other side of the bed before plopping down on it, causing Zelda's end to bump up a bit.

"They have been great since you have been here! None of them have been scared!"

Zelda cocked a head at that. She didn't think that she had much influence over Tingle these past few weeks that she had been here. She only checked on him at night and gave him a smile or two when she saw him in the halls.

"Why is that, Tingle?"

"Because you are our protector!"

Although Zelda was sure about it before, she assumed he was referring to previous nurses that he must have had. The people that Ganondorf hired must be people he knew were too scared to say anything about his practices or were on the same boat as him, at least when it comes to abusing patients.

"Well I'm glad that things are better for you now, Tingle. I really am," she told him.

After she said that, Tingle shot up from the bed quite quickly and started digging underneath his mattress. Zelda stood up as well, as he seemed to be having difficulty reaching whatever it was he wanted with her weighing it down. The look of desperation on his face was clear, and this was strange considering he was just happy a moment ago about the fairies.

"What's going on Tingle? What are you looking for?" Zelda asked.

"The fairies asked me to give you something. I knew I would forget! I want to make sure you have it Miss Zelda! Where is it? Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" he repeated the last words a few more times before his hand came into contact with a manilla folder.

When he placed it into her hands she asked him, "what and where did you get this Tingle?" She tried to keep her voice calm as to not worry him or make him think he did something wrong.

"When that mean ol' Ghirahim tried to hurt Miss Zelda. I saw the folder in his room and the fairies told me that he shouldn't have this. I knew I should give it to you! Mr. Link seems to trust you enough so I do too!"

Zelda knew this was something that she needed, so she thanked Tingle before handing him his medicine and a glass of water. Knowing that he pleased Zelda, he took the medication without any hesitation.

"Thank you Tingle. You did the right thing." The gentle smile on her face brought an even bigger one to his face. He got himself in the bed and Zelda flicked the lights off, leaving him with a quiet goodnight before locking the door behind her.

She leaned against the door with a heavy sigh, looking at the folder in her hands. She should put this in her bag right away before continuing with her rounds. Though there were only three staff members there right now, she didn't feel comfortable walking around with something that was possibly incriminating to Ganondorf and this institution. She might get caught and fired before she could do anything.

"Whatcha got there?"

The voice startled Zelda to the point that her nurses cap almost fell off her head. Link was propped on his door frame, a smirk gracing his features.

"H-how are you outside your room?" she asked him, choosing to ignore his previous question.

"The day nurse forgot to lock the door, as usual," he shrugged as he said it. "So what is that?"

"I don't know yet. I have had a chance to read it,' she told him honestly. She glanced at her watch before looking up and down the hall. Ghirahim was locked up in his room and she wasn't willing to go inside to make sure he was asleep. Not just yet. Navi probably didn't want to see her face, though she knew she should at least take a peek to make sure she was alright.

"I have a couple others to check on, Link. Please go in your room until I get to you."

Link gave her a playful roll of his eyes before going back into his room. Zelda walked up to Navi's door and cracked it open, peeking in since the room was already dark.

"I'm fine and I'm trying to sleep. Please leave," was all Navi said. Zelda nodded, expecting that answer, and locked the door before heading off to Agitha's room. She knew Agitha would be awake, as she was always trying to stay up later than she should have.

"Agitha?" Zelda asked as she stepped into the room, her heels clicking on the tile floor.

The little blonde girl was sitting on her bed, a sad expression on her face. It was obvious that the girl had been crying throughout the day. Zelda quickly ran to the girl's side and sat down next to her. Contrary to her standoffish attitude towards Zelda the times before, Agitha curled into Zelda's side.

"What happened?"

Agitha sniffed and wiped her face before speaking. "Some man came in here and made it so the bugs couldn't come and see me. I haven't seen them all day. They must be so lonely!"

One of the day nurses must have complained of the bug problem and called an exterminator. Zelda did not have the heart to tell her that the bugs were probably dead. She wanted to make her happy and the idea that popped in her head was one that would probably get her in trouble. However, Zelda believed it was harsh on their mental state to rip something away from them like that. Agitha's fixation on bugs did not make her unfit to live in society. It was being locked up in here, being told something was wrong with her that was. One could easily help Agitha turn her fixation into a healthy hobby.

"I'll find them and bring them to you as soon as I can," Zelda said, stroking her hair. "I'll make it so they can't come in here and easily take them away again, okay?"

"Really?" Agitha looked at her hopefully.

"Really. But now, I need you to sleep. I'll bring them to you next time I see you."

Agitha seemed happy with that answer and wiped her face free of tears before cuddling under the covers. Zelda flicked the lights off and exited the room same as the others. She headed down the hall to Links room now, briefly stopping to peek into Ghirahim's. The lights were off and he was in bed as far as Zelda could see. That was good enough for her.

Link's door wasn't even closed, the door left open a crack. He was sitting on his bed, looking up at the ceiling with a serious look on his face.

"Time for bed," Zelda said, trying to hide the growing smirk from her face. Link's eyes trailed over to her and then rested on the folder in her hand.

"So care to explain why you have Ganondorf's file?"

Zelda's eyes widened. Is that was this was? She still hadn't looked at it, even though she was dying of curiosity. But how did Link know what it was?

"I can see you didn't even know that," Link chided her. Zelda huffed in response.

"I told you, I haven't had a chance to read it. It's nothing for you to worry about anyway."

"You know you can get fired for having that, right?"

Zelda nodded, "I'm well aware."

"And you're still willing to take it?"

"You bet I am."

Link smiled at her then. It was a genuine smile, not a smirk or a grin that she had seen before. He seemed actually pleased with her response, and Zelda didn't quite understand that. He stood from the bed, walking over to stand in front of Zelda. He was around the same height at her, Zelda noticed.

"I have a feeling things are going to change around here now that you are working here."

The way he looked at her almost brought a blush to her face but she calmed down before she felt her face warm up entirely.

"Start thinking about what you want to do for a Christmas Party. Malon and I are planning on having one for the patients in the ward," she quickly changed the subject. That seemed to surprise Link.

"Is that even going to be approved?"

"I'll make sure it is," Zelda replied, though she wasn't even sure herself. "Now, get to bed. I have to finish up and lock down the ward."

She turned to leave the room and Link grabbed her wrist. Zelda turned around to look at his hand before looking up at his face, a expression on confusion gracing her features. He seemed to not even know why he did it, either.

"Sorry…" he mumbled, "I-just, thanks for helping out with the shit here."

Zelda gave him a smile. "Don't mention it. I'm doing it cause I want to."

He let her go then and she left the room confused. When she entered the main area with that expression on her face, Malon leaned from around the computer screen.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Malon grinned then. "You look confused. Would it have something to do with the resident hottie?"

"I can't believe you just said that."

Malon just stuck her tongue out at her before Zelda headed off toward the employee lounge.

"I'll be right back," Zelda told her.

The lounge was it's quiet self as she settled into the plastic chairs around the table. Placing the file in front of her, she stared at it for a moment. The tab on the folder had a red tape band on it. Opening the folder, Zelda noticed that it was a patient's history along with doctor notes.

More specifically, it was Link's patient history.

'What is this?"

* * *

_Oh dear lord guys. I am so sorry that I took so long to write this. I planned on writing it over Spring Break two weeks ago but I left the file on my work computer, so I wasn't able to work on it at all until now. I'm really sorry! I hope you all forgive me!_

_Please read and review! Thanks again for sticking around!_


	6. Chapter 6

Zelda couldn't get out of her head what she saw in that file last night. The file was almost identical to the one that Ganondorf had supplied to her at the beginning of her time there. There was one difference, however. All of the information that was in her file was in red pen on this original file. It was written in, scratching out the original information. The only things that were the same were his personal history, his doctor, his age, etc.

Link was the most sane out of all of them. He did not have Borderline Personality Disorder at all. If anything, he had a temper, but that was about the extent of his problems. All of his previous doctors have said that he just needed basic counseling, but was _not _unfit to live in society. If that was the case, why in the world did Ganondorf want him locked up? How did he get away with changing all of this information when it can be cross checked with other doctors?

Zelda almost slammed her head against the side of her car. She was brimming with anger at the moment and there was nothing that could fix the problem as fast as she liked. She resorted to just kicking her tire a few times as her brain struggled to come up with a logical answer. She knew Ganondorf was insane, probably needing to be locked up himself, but she didn't think his plan would run this deep. It was so deep that she couldn't even keep a hold of what was going on. What did Link have to do with Ganondorf that he wanted him locked up so badly? Was this another reason that he had Ghirahim locked up as well?

"Zelda? I'm sure your car doesn't deserve any of that."

Zelda turned her head to see Malon, tightly wrapped up in her scarf, purse under her arm. It was the first time that she had seen her outside of work, so it was a bit of a surprise.

"Malon! What are you doing here?"

"I need some more dog food, you?" Malon said, still giving her a raised eyebrow over the tire kicking behavior.

Zelda wasn't against telling Malon why she was at the pet store in the first place. But it didn't make her any less worried about actually telling someone of her plans. What she was doing would surely get her fired if she was found out. But she couldn't sit around and let them be bullied any longer. They would never recover in this state.

"As long as you don't tell anyone..."

Malon gave her a roll of her eyes, linking their arms together and dragging Zelda to the store.

"Please. Me? I thought you knew me better than that, Zelda. We are on the same side."

Zelda laughed in response. "I know, I know. It doesn't make me any less nervous, though.

"So?"

"I'm buying an ant farm for Agitha."

Malon raised an eye at that as she led Zelda to the dog food aisle. Zelda knew how stupid it sounded and she was sure that Malon thought she was crazy. She wouldn't blame the red-head. Zelda thought she was crazy as well. But she couldn't sit there while a young girl was being deprived of something that didn't make her crazy. It was just out of the ordinary.

"Why?"

"I think Ganondorf went and had her room cleaned of the bugs that she had. I mean, it was a little gross that she let those insects just run free, but that's no reason to just destroy a little girl like that. So what if she has a strange hobby? There is nothing wrong with her."

"As sweet as that is, Zel, I don't think they will let her keep an ant farm. They hardly let them have any possessions at all."

Zelda nodded in understanding as she hauled her friend over to the aisle that held the insects. The idea of buying this ant farm freaked Zelda out to no end, but she had to tell herself that this was not for her, it was for Agitha. She just hoped that the farm didn't break on the way home because then she would have a problem.

"I thought about that too. I plan to set some rules with her. She will get to have the farm at night for a few hours before bed and we will keep them safe in my locker during the day so they aren't killed again."

"I don't know how she will like that, but it's still sweet of you. I hope it works out," Malon commented as they scanned the glass containers that held the farms. "I won't tell a soul."

After looking through the various cases, Zelda decided on a light blue case before going to the shopkeeper and getting the ants as well as the various information that she needed to know in order to care for the ants. Holding the case itself made Zelda shiver, but she had to suck it up. The fact she was making made Malon laugh at her until they were out into the parking lot.

"I sent in a proposal to Ganondorf about the Christmas party with statements from the other employees. I doubt he will approve it the first time though, but I thought I should let you know," Malon said as the two stood in the parking lot, about to part ways.

"I would assume the same. He probably doesn't even believe in Christmas," Zelda joked.

"He's basically the real life Grinch."

The two shared a laugh before Malon waved and said her goodbyes, promising to harass her about Link when they started their shift. Zelda gave her a heavy eye roll at that remark, but that wouldn't deter Malon.

* * *

Driving to work that night was the biggest hassle Zelda had had in a while. The weather forecast predicted that they would be heavy snow that night, but Zelda didn't picture that it would be almost white out conditions.

The wind almost blew Zelda to the side as she teetered through the parking lot, ankle high in snow. Luckily she was smart enough to wear boots and carry her heels in her hands. The look of anger that crossed Zelda's face was almost comical as she stormed into the hospital. Malon gave her a questioning look, as Zelda was almost drenched from the snow, her hair dripping.

"You alright there?"

Zelda grumbled past her to the lounge. "No, I should have brought an umbrella."

Malon chuckled at the desk and Zelda shot her a look, though she wasn't really that angry, before getting herself cleaned up in the back. Agitha's ant farm was neatly wrapped up in a bag so Zelda didn't have to look at the creepy ants crawling around freely inside.

She patted herself down with the towels that were in the room and changed out of her snow soaked boots and into her red heels. Her hair was a lost cause, so she tied it up with a spare hair tie that she carried around with her. With the bag and her badge with her, Zelda headed back into the main foyer to greet Malon at the desk.

"You don't look that bad."

"I feel like I look soggy," Zelda whined.

"It's not like you need to impress anyone at work," Malon giggled, wiggling her eyebrows.

Zelda jutted out her bottom lip and stuck her head in the air. "You're right. I look perfectly fine. I'm not trying to impress anyone."

"I think you don't even realize it. You totally have the hots for him."

"I don't."

"You do."

Zelda huffed. "Whatever, you dork. I'm heading to do my first rounds and give Agitha her present. Do me a favor and let me know if the weather conditions change, okay?"

Malon gave her blonde friend a thumbs up before the latter hobbled away, her skirt sticking to her sides due to it being wet.

A lot of the doors were open in the ward today and it was surprising to see Navi talking with Tingle today. Zelda was a bit worried that Navi was causing trouble, but the familiar laugh of Tingle told her otherwise.

"Good evening, guys," Zelda greeted with a smile.

Navi gave her an unhappy look but didn't seem to be angry with her. Zelda wondered what it was that Navi had against her. "Hi," she said shortly.

"Hi Miss Zelda!" Tingle said, poking his head from around his door.

"I'm happy to see you two getting along," Zelda tilted her head and shot them a smile.

"Miss Navi is a nice girl. She just has trouble showing it."

"Navi's a great girl, isn't she?" Zelda smiled at the younger girl. Seemingly embarrassed, Navi glared at the two of them and walked off. It made Zelda chuckle slightly. Tingle chased after her, obviously not done with their conversation. This gave Zelda the time to head to Agitha's room and surprise her.

The little girl was sitting on her bed in the corner. She seemed quite depressed and lost. It wasn't much of a surprise. The only thing that kept her happy in this place was taken away from her.

"Hi, Agitha," Zelda said, holding the bag behind her back.

Her eyes were rimmed with red and she sniffled. "Hi..."

"I have a surprise for you!"

She perked up at that, but didn't look much happier than she did before. Zelda pulled the bag from behind her back and placed it gently on the bed next to her.

"Be careful opening it. It's fragile."

Agitha shot Zelda a strange look but took the bag anyway. It seemed a little heavy for the small girl, but she managed on her own. Pulling the ant farm out of the bag, the amount of joy that filled Agitha's face almost made Zelda start sobbing. It was like the little girl hadn't been given anything her entire life and this was the first time someone indulged in her hobby.

"My insects!" she cried, hugging the farm. "How?"

"I'm your nurse. I'm able to do just about everything," Zelda told her as a matter of fact. "There will be a rule if you want to keep them though."

"Anything! Anything!"

Zelda sighed, knowing that she wouldn't like it very much.

"You can take care of them at night until it's lights out. After that, they have to go in my locker. You don't want them taken away, do you? If anyone else knows you have them, they will take them away and you won't see them again." It seemed kind of harsh, but it was the only way Zelda could think of wording it.

"But I have to protect them..." Agitha said, a scowl coming over her face.

"I can protect them during the day shift, and you can have the night shift! Just like I protect you during the night shift."

There was silence between them then. Zelda didn't really know what else to say so she figured that she would let Agitha think about it on her own. The silence lasted a long time before Zelda started to get nervous. She was wondering if this wasn't a good idea after all.

"Okay. As long as you promise to treat them just like your children!" Agitha shouted, holding the ant farm close to her heart.

"I swear it."

The smile returned to Agitha's face and Zelda ruffled her hair before leaving Agitha to play with the ants for the rest of the night. She wanted to check on everyone else but she figured she deserved a coffee to warm her up. Walking around in damp clothes didn't help.

"That was nice of you," a deep voice said.

Zelda jumped a bit before turning her head to see Link standing in his doorframe. Zelda backtracked a bit and stopped to talk to him.

"Don't tell anyone," she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, please."

Seeing him brought back the memories of his file. Link could see the obvious look of concern on her face when she looked at him. He was a lot smarter than she gave him credit for because he was able to piece a few things together.

"What was in the file from yesterday?"

She didn't know if she should ask him about it. Would he get angry if she brought it up?

"Zelda..."

Letting out a sigh, she looked up and down the halls and saw that everyone else who had free roam privileges was occupied.

"It was your original patient file. Completely different than the one I was given."

"Original?"

"The one I was given says you have been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, whereas the original says that you have no mental illness. There is nothing wrong with you. And it was _edited by Ganondorf._"

Link grew quiet this time, avoiding her eyes.

"Link, why are you here? No, why have you been here for this long?"

Before Link could answer her, even if he planned on it, a call came in on her radio.

"Zel? Either you take off right now or you're spending the night here," Malon's staticy voice said.

"What?" Zelda said in shock.

"The snowstorm is getting so bad the weather center declared us under a state of emergency until the morning. The roads can't be plowed right now."

Zelda guessed she would be spending the night here tonight.

At least that gave her more time to pry answers out of Link.

* * *

_HI! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry it took so long. School and other things got so crazy. I know many of you asked for longer chapters, but if I do that it will end faster. I don't plan on this story breaking 15 chapters, so I'm sorry! But thank you for loving this story and sticking around. You all are great! Also sorry for any errors! Let me know if you find them. I wanted to get this up fast for you guys so I didn't edit it._

_Also to **Yuyake no Okami: **Thank you for your review! That is quite ironic! I'm sorry I'm a bit harsh with Navi. I've actually only played two LoZ games, so I'm not that familiar with the universe. I've never played one with Navi so all I know about her is 'HEY, LISTEN'. But thank you again! I tried to be kinder to her in this chapter. _


	7. Chapter 7

Zelda leaned on the door frame of Link's room with a sigh. She would be stuck here all night. Not that she didn't enjoy seeing the patients or spending time with Malon, but she had no suitable clothes and this meant that she would have to see Ganondorf in the morning. She enjoyed working after him so she never had to see his face unless it was on her terms. Puffing out her cheeks, she glared at the floor for a moment, causing Link to laugh at her.

"Why are you laughing?" she grumbled at him.

"Because you look extremely unhappy to be stuck here. What, I thought you liked your job?"

"I do! It's just this means I have to pull an all nighter."

"No, just sleep in one of the rooms," he told her as he walked into his room and plopped onto the bed.

"And risk some idiot locking me inside? No thanks. I have class in the morning," she grumbled, turning to face into his room. "Anyway! Don't change the subject. Don't think I forgot about what we were discussing."

"And what was that?"

Zelda huffed, blowing some of her bangs out of her face. Link could be so frustrating at times. He enjoyed playing with her and Zelda was not really used to people being sarcastic with her. It's just not something she was built for.

"Why are you here, Link?" Zelda placed a hand on her hip as she stood up straight. "Besides some simple temper issues and a _brief _incident in a pottery shop, nothing stood out to me that would require you to be locked in here for six years."

"The pottery shop was not my fault, it was my sister's."

"_Link!" _

"Okay, okay," he said, "shut the door first or something."

Zelda reached around and cracked the door. Even though she had a set of keys, Zelda was terrified of being locked inside places. She didn't have good memories with locked doors. Once the door was cracked, she made her way to the desk that was in the room and dragged the chair over so she could sit near him by the bed.

"I'm a pretty big advocate against Ganondorf and his practices. I went and had counseling once a week with Doctor Nabooru at her hospital. It wasn't anything extreme, but I did have some trouble with my temper growing up. When she was blinded by Ghirahim, I had to start seeing another doctor while she recovered. After I found out what happened, I made the effort to get the word out more about this place and how it was treating its patients. Well, unfortunately for me, Ganondorf pulled some strings and paid some money to my doctor to make the state declare that I had to become an in-patient and Ganondorf stepped in as the hero and took me in for free. My family knew that it was all a lie and that I was perfectly capable of living out in the world. They fought in the court system for a while. But Ganondorf and his false evidence was pretty tight, so I've been stuck here. After seeing how he's been treating his patients and how Ghirahim is allowed to run rampant as long as he plays Ganondorf's game, I told my family to stop fighting to get me out of here and to let me stay and help these patients until this place gets shut down."

Zelda was speechless. She didn't think that he was here because of something crazy like that. She knew Ganondorf was evil, but she didn't think that someone else was evil enough to make Link suffer just because he wanted to help people.

"Who was your doctor after Dr. Nabooru?" she asked him. Maybe if she knew who it was, she could track them down and get them to confess. She had Link's original patient file. If she could get her hands on the one at Nabooru's hospital and compare them, along with the one she was given, she could hold up a good argument for Link's case.

"Her name was Kotake."

Zelda made a mental note before sighing back into the chair, looking at the ceiling.

"This is all so crazy."

Link leaned forward off the bed, his elbows on his knees. "What are you planning to do with that information?"

Zelda's eyes glanced over at Link before looking back up. "I'm going to try to get my hands on your patient file from them. Then I will have three versions of it. With that, I can prove that you don't belong here and get you out of here."

"If it were that easy. Ganondorf knows the right people."

"I know the right people," Zelda grinned, mirroring his posture. "Not only will I get you out of here, I'll get everyone else put into a proper place to get proper treatment."

Link didn't look convinced. "How do you know the right people, Zelda?"

"Didn't anyone tell you? I'm the mayor's daughter. Once I gather enough evidence, I will have so many people working on this case who are far more influential than whoever Ganondorf has."

Link smiled a little then.

"I admire your confidence. I appreciate it too. But, if it does work out, don't get me out of here before this place is shut down. I can't leave them here to be at risk. You can't protect them on your own. Sure, you can take care of them, but you can't protect yourself from Ghirahim."

Zelda nodded at that. No matter how fast she wanted this process to go, he was right. She needed him here.

"Well, I better make arrangements with Malon about sleeping and food and such. It's going to be a long night." Zelda took from the chair and went to walk out the door, leaving it open instead of closing it like usual.

"Aren't you going to close the door?"

Zelda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. "We just had a long discussion about how there is nothing wrong with you. I have no problem with you wandering about while I'm here. As long as you don't go near Ghirahim's room."

Link mock saluted her with a smile before she turned the corner and left the hall.

There, Malon was still sitting at her desk, though she was swinging the keys around her finger.

"So it seems that the security guard can't get here due to the storm. I went ahead and locked all the doors anyway that way the desk doesn't need to be monitored the whole night and we can get some food and sleep. We'll be here until they dig us out."

Zelda stretched out and nodded. "Okay. We can get something to eat in a bit then we can sleep in shifts? We have to make sure someone is awake just in case of emergency anyway."

"Did you forget to lock Link's door?" Malon suddenly asked. When Zelda raised an eyebrow to the statement, Malon pointed a finger and Zelda turned around to see Link strolling out of the ward with his hands in his pockets.

"What?" he asked, looking innocent.

Malon knew nothing of Zelda's findings so far, so it was natural for her to be concerned, even if she was trying to hook the two of them up.

"What are you doing?" Zelda asked him. She knew she just told him he could wander around, but she didn't think he'd leave the ward.

"I'm hungry."

This time Zelda did roll her eyes.

* * *

Malon and Zelda were seated behind the front desk together, monitoring the screens while they ate some snack food. Malon had her legs propped up on the desk while Zelda snuggled into a blanket they found in the laundry room.

"Mind telling me about lover boy?"

"He's not lover boy, Malon."

"That doesn't change the fact that you need to inform me why you are letting him wander around."

Zelda knew she could trust Malon, but at the same time she didn't want to speak of it more than she had to. She was paranoid that somehow Ganondorf was listening to her or that he had something recording her every word. She knew he didn't trust her already so it certainly wasn't out of the question.

"There's nothing wrong with him." Zelda said simply.

"I know you like him and all, but I don't think you should let your feelings get in the way of your job."

Zelda turned to face Malon now. "No, you don't understand. I found his original patient file. There is nothing wrong with him. The one we were given was altered by Ganondorf to keep him in here and silent about this awful place and what it is doing."

Malon looked skeptical but seemed to believe her.

"It would make a lot of sense. Link always seemed a little too normal for this place."

"I know."

It was silent for a moment before a grin spread across Malon's face.

"I don't even want to hear what you have to say," Zelda said quickly, turning away. She knew Malon was up to no good.

"You don't even know what it was about!"

"I don't want to."

Malon rolled her eyes and continued anyway. "You can take the first sleeping shift. I'll wake you up around 3 am, and then I'll sleep until seven to monitor the phones and computers again. Ganondorf should be getting here then anyway."

"Where am I supposed to sleep? The break room?"

The grin got even wider. Zelda didn't trust it.

"Go hang out with Link. I'm sure he's more than willing to share."

"No way, Malon. Not only is that inappropriate, but I don't want to sleep in the room. What if we get locked in? How am I supposed to get us out?"

"I have spare keys. I have to wake you up anyway. Also, you know your keys can get you out from inside too. And how old are you? Ten? It's not inappropriate. Come on! You're the mayor's daughter and I'm sure you've lived a tight controlled life all the time. Have some fun while no one's watching. It's not like you're going to have sex with him. Just cuddle or something, my god. "

Zelda turned as red as a tomato at that.

"Shut up, Malon. I'm not going."

"I'm not going to shut up until you do."

Zelda knew that was true too. Malon knew how to press her buttons. She stood up with mock fury and whipped the blanket around her before stomping off in the direction of the ward. Malon was full of laughs the entire time.

Zelda didn't want to admit it, but she was nervous. Malon wasn't too far off with the accusation. She had never had a boyfriend, and she had never even stayed in the same bed with someone else. She was nervous and embarrassed and shy and it didn't help that Link was always trying to push her buttons.

By the time she got to his door, his light was off and he was already lying in bed. He had closed the door behind him, probably under the assumption that he wouldn't be up until morning and didn't want to get in trouble with the morning staff. Zelda unlocked the door with her keys before slipping in and closing the door behind her. It took a moment to work up the nerve to fully close the door, but she told herself that Malon had the keys, as did she, and she wasn't alone in the room.

Zelda shoved his shoulder lightly and he groaned a moment before squinting his eyes at her. He looked confused.

"Zelda?"

"I need to take a nap. Can I stay in here with you?"

It was silent for a moment and Zelda swore that Link could hear her heart furiously beating in her chest. With how long that he was silent, she thought that he was going to turn her away. But before she could tell him to forget about it, he scooted over closer to the wall and tugged on her wrist sleepily. The bed wasn't that large and as she crawled into the bed, he had to wrap his arm around her waist to keep the both of them on there comfortably. His breath was blowing on her neck and she felt like a million degrees.

"You're stiff as a board. Relax," he teased her.

Zelda furrowed her eyebrows. Of course he would make fun of her.

"Well _excuse me_ for being nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" Link asked her then, a serious undertone to it.

Zelda was quiet a moment, not expecting him to be so upfront. Though she supposed that is something he would ask.

"I'm not accustomed to sharing a bed with someone, least of all a boy," she told him honestly.

"Well you don't have to worry. I'm not going to take advantage of you or anything like that."

She turned around to face him.

"I wasn't worried about that, idiot," she grumbled at him.

"Then what? You came to me, not the other way around you know."

She didn't answer right away. They just stared at each other for a moment before she broke eye contact and answered him as she turned back over.

"It's just a new experience and I'm nervous about it."

She expected him to make a joke or something of that nature, but instead he pressed his lips to the back of her neck and laid down more comfortably, pulling her closer. Zelda's face burned brightly, as she didn't expect him to do that.

"Just go to sleep dork. You'll be fine."

She managed to peep out a 'good night' before trying to relax and sleep like he told her. It was a while before she could drift off into sleep because she couldn't figure out why she couldn't stop thinking about his lips on the back of her neck.

* * *

_So apologies are in order. I didn't forget about the story or anything, I've just been really busy. I know it's summer but I've been working and doing an independent study, and well…I just couldn't get the words out for this chapter. I didn't want to bullshit it, so I waited until I really knew what I wanted to write. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to yell at me for taking so long! _


	8. Chapter 8

Zelda awoke to a gentle shake to her shoulder. The room was still dark and she could feel Link's arm still tightly wound around her waist. Adjusting her eyes to the dark, Zelda came face to face with a smirking Malon. Looking at Malon wrapped in her own blanket and the sleepy look on her face, Zelda figured that it was her time to take watch.

Letting out a groan, Zelda stretched the length of the bed. Doing this made Link let out a small groan himself and pull Zelda closer to her. A blush covered Zelda's face while Malon let out a silent laugh, doubling over in the dark room. Zelda tried to shoot a glare Malon's way but was unsuccessful.

"What are you doing?" A raspy voice muttered on Zelda's neck.

"I—uh...I need to get up now," Zelda stammered, overwhelmed by the feeling in her stomach and the smirking gaze of Malon.

"Why?"

"I _do _have a job to do. I can't sleep the whole shift."

Zelda felt Link's chest vibrate against her back even though she could barely hear his laugh. Link let go of Zelda's waist and pulled his own blanket over him and curled up to go back to sleep. Zelda hopped out of his bed and pushed Malon out of the room as the redhead kept mouthing teasing words at the two.

"Sometimes I hate you, you know that?" Zelda grumbled once the two of them were back in the lobby.

"You love me," Malon giggled. Once Zelda took her seat behind the desk, Malon continued. "I actually didn't want to wake you at first. You both were just so cute sleeping there."

Zelda grumbled and turned her focus to the computer. Grumpy from waking up and from Malon's teasing, she attempted to ignore Malon all together before she said something stupid. It wasn't like she was angry with Malon for the teasing. Zelda had never had thoughts about a boy before and was confused about her thoughts for Link.

"I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me a little before seven so we are both up when Dr. Ganondorf gets here," Malon quickly changed the subject, noticing Zelda's behavior. Zelda shot Malon a smile to ensure that Malon knew she wasn't mad. The redhead gave her a wink before scampering off to the break room, leaving Zelda to her own devices for the next couple of hours.

Time passed by slowly and without event. She could hear the snow plows in the distance working their magic on the snow. Zelda just prayed that they did not box her car in with the snow. The card game on the computer was becoming dull and Zelda's eyes were becoming heavy with exhaustion. She did not fare well when she only slept a few hours. She was more tired than she was before.

It wasn't until around five in the morning that Zelda started clicking around the computer. She was not intending to be nosy, but she was running out of things to keep her entertained. Stumbling upon some of the Asylum's older files, Zelda found a file containing a letter from Ganondorf to Volga. It was a very vague letter, thanking Volga for connecting him to Ghirahim. It was dated about eight years ago, before Ghirahim was institutionalized.

Whoever this Volga was, it gave Zelda another lead into discovering a way to gather evidence to incriminate Ganondorf. Zelda sat re-reading the plain thank you letter over and over. Realizing that she needed a copy of this, she print the screen instead of printing the actual document, paranoid that Ganondorf had a way to find out which documents she was printing. She wouldn't put it past him.

Taking the printed sheet, she folded it up into a small square and tucked it into her bra. Hearing a door click, Zelda quickly exited out of the windows and opened up her card game again.

"You look like a kid caught looking up something they weren't supposed to." A hearty chuckle followed the taunt. Zelda calmed down immensely when she looked up at the source of the voice.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Zelda asked Link.

"I should, but then I noticed you left my door unlocked and that could get you into some trouble with the day staff." He leaned over the desk, crossing his arms over one another.

Zelda mentally smacked herself on the forehead. She was so busy fussing over Malon that she forgot to lock the door behind her.

"So what _were _you looking at?"

"Do you know anyone named Volga?" Zelda asked in a hushed voice, as if someone was listening in. Link put on a thoughtful face for a moment before shaking his head. "Well, I found a letter from Ganondorf to him thanking him for connecting him to Ghirahim."

That sparked Link's attention.

"Moreover, it was dated eight years ago. Which means Ganondorf had been planning his attack on Nabooru for a while," Zelda continued. "Though it still doesn't explain what his ultimate goal is. I understand his attack on Nabooru and why he has you in here, but what is he trying to cover up besides his serious mistreatment of patients?"

"I've been trying to figure that out for years. He's good at hiding it," Link mumbled.

The two stayed in silence for a few moments longer before Zelda looked up to catch Link's eyes. He was staring at her with a look in his eye that she couldn't understand. She could feel her cheeks heating up and she tore her eyes from his.

"We should get you back in your room incase someone decides to show up for work early." Zelda stood, letting the blanket pool on the chair, and grabbed the keys for the ward. The familiar beep let them into the ward before Zelda stopped at Link's door.

He went to walk into his room but stood there instead of walking through the doorway. His back was to Zelda and she watched him with a concerned expression. Before she could speak and ask if he was alright, he turned around and enveloped her in a hug.

"Link?" she questioned in a startled expression.

"Sorry," he mumbled into the side of her neck, "I'm just happy you're here."

It seemed like Link was about to pull away and Zelda did not want him to think that she was rejecting his hug when in fact she was just startled. She was not used to the physical attention. Zelda quickly wrapped her arms around Link's middle and pulled him close, resting her chin on his shoulder, making the hug more comfortable and less awkward than it was before.

After some time, Zelda giggled quietly. "This is so not appropriate."

Link pulled back and looked at Zelda with an amused expression on his face. "What do you mean?"

"I'm your nurse, Link." Zelda gave him an expression that the reasoning should be obvious.

"Hugging your patients isn't all that bad. Though maybe sleeping in bed with them is," he teased, causing Zelda to go red once again. She seemed to be doing that a lot tonight.

"Shut it," was all Zelda could come up with.

Link sniggered, taking Zelda's hand and squeezing it lightly before bidding her goodnight and closing the door. Zelda stood there a moment, staring at her hand before locking the door and heading to wake up Malon.

* * *

It had been a few days since the snowstorm and Zelda had taken the time off to catch up on her studies. She had been falling behind in her work and needed the extra few days to catch up for a test that was that week. Although she had an afternoon shift that day, Zelda sat at her bedroom desk finishing up a study guide before work.

There was a heavy knock on her door and Zelda closed her book before voicing that the guest could enter. In walked Impa, who had been the housekeeper for Zelda's family for as long as she could remember. Impa had always been a serious woman and was very blunt when discussing issues with Zelda.

"Good morning, Impa," Zelda greeted with a smile.

"How are you doing, Zelda?" Impa asked, a serious tone in her voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Working at Skyview. I'm not blind to the problems that that institution has. I want to make sure you're doing okay there."

Zelda gave Impa a familiar look, one that children tend to give overbearing parents. "Impa, I'm fine. I'm doing just fine there."

"Don't let your schoolwork be affected by your investigation."

Zelda's eyes widened in surprise.

"I didn't mean to look at your personal items, Zelda. But you left much of your research on your desk. Why are you trying to do this on your own? Why don't you entrust the men at Skyloft to continue the investigation?"

"The men at Skyloft are good men, Impa. But I just don't trust others to have the same dedication. And besides, if I make a formal investigation now, Ganondorf will find out and cover his tracks."

Impa gave a smile, almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye. "You've always been this type of girl, Zelda. Always fighting for others no matter the cost to yourself. Just don't forget to ask me for help when you need it. I don't want you to feel like you need to do this alone."

Zelda took Impa's hand affectionately and thanked her before moving on to simpler topics and small talk. Before long it was time for Zelda to head to her shift and she left Impa and her schoolwork behind.

When she arrived at Skyview the staff that was working was one that was unfamiliar to her and therefore she did not speak to anyone as she did her normal rounds. She walked through the ward and gave Tingle and Agitha her usual affection before planning to stop at Link's room. It was then that she noticed that Link was not in his room. It wasn't time for his therapy session so there was no need for him to be gone. Concerned, she made her way to Navi to ask if she knew anything. On her way there she found that Ghirahim was also missing from his room.

"Navi?" Zelda asked gently.

"Yeah," was the curt and short reply.

"Where are Link and Ghirahim? I wasn't informed of anything when I started my shift."

Navi stood from her spot on the bed and raised an eyebrow. "You haven't heard? Link and Ghirahim got into another fight. One of the morning nurses let Ghirahim out of his room and he went straight to Link to antagonize him for some reason. I don't know what they were fighting about through."

Zelda furrowed her eyebrows together in frustration. Why did no one tell her of this when she got in for her shift? Shaking her head and looking to Navi, she had to remember she had more than one patient.

"And you're alright, Navi? Anything you need to talk about?"

"No. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Navi's answers were always short and curt sentences. Zelda once thought that Navi hated her, but she is beginning to learn that is just how Navi is. She gave her a small smile and headed out of the room.

Irritation filled Zelda now as she made her way out of the ward. Her intention was to head straight to Ganondorf's office and demand to know why she wasn't informed of her patients' status. However once she got into the main lobby, a commotion caught her eye.

"You need to give me a decent reason as to why I can't see my brother, not that bullshit one!"

The receptionist looked visibly frightened at the angry visitor. When Zelda got a good look at her, she knew exactly who she was. She had on a green hoodie with the hood up, but when she turned around, she was an exact copy of Link. Her bangs fell on her forehead in a messy fashion and two long pieces of hair fell down on the sides and tied at the end with ribbon. She held a serious and determined look on her face.

"Are you Link's sister?" Zelda asked with surprise.

The hard look on the girl's face lightened up when she saw Zelda. "Finally! Someone who doesn't seem clueless. I'm Link's sister, Linkle!"

* * *

_I have so many apologies to make. I know many of you were waiting for me to update and even left me messages. I'm sorry for making you wait a year for this update. I was finishing college and graduated not long ago. I had so much on my plate and now it is finally summer. Although I do have to be an adult, I will have more time to write. I'll do my best to be more regular about this story. A thousand apologies. I don't really know what else to say. I hope you all keep reading even though I am a shitty updater! I feel my writers block slipping away to expect another chapter quite soon!_

_On a side note, I'm working on a Zelda themed workout and cosplay tumblr called traintobezelda. If you're interested, you should give it a follow! There isn't much original content because I don't have a job yet so I can't buy anything for the page, but there will be a ton of stuff on there soon! _

_Please review! _


	9. Chapter 9

_You guys are in for a treat. I made this one longer than usual._

* * *

"And who are you?" Linkle asked Zelda with some hesitation. Although she seemed pleased to see Zelda due to Zelda showing some concern with the situation, Zelda couldn't blame her for being skeptical of her.

"I'm Zelda. I work as the nurse in Ward D. In fact," Zelda turned towards the receptionist, "I was going to ask a very similar question."

The receptionist looked utterly helpless and while Zelda did feel some pity for him, she needed to find out if he knew anything at all to get some information on this situation.

"I need you to page Dr. Ganondorf so he can explain to me where my patients have been taken to without my knowledge."

"Wait, my brother is not even here?" Linkle's voice rising as she spoke, the shock evident on her features.

"I'm sorry, Nurse Nohansen, but the doctor stepped out for the moment. I'm not sure when he will be back," the receptionist said with a shaky voice.

"Again, hence why I asked you to page him." Zelda said with more firmness this time and the receptionist quickly turned around and pressed the number to Ganondorf's pager on the small machine on the back shelf. Zelda turned to Linkle, who reminded her so much of Link, and gave a reassuring smile. "Why don't you just take a seat here and I'll meet with the doctor. Once I figure out the situation I'll come and explain everything to you."

"Well if I don't like the answer, I'll go speak to that shithead doctor myself!" Linkle said with determination. "And thank you, Zelda." Link's sister took a seat in the corner of the room with her arms crossed and a constant tap of her booted feet.

Zelda then left and headed down the hall past the kitchens and break room to wait in Ganondorf's office for him. She had to suppress the urge to dig through all of his information and belongings. His office is usually locked during the night and it was rare that the door was wide open. But she couldn't risk being found out.

His office was incredibly self obsessed. Like most doctors he had his awards and certifications on the walls, but on top of that he had many portraits of himself as well. The back corner of the office had a big, black safe that Zelda assumed was full of documents that she was dying to her hands on.

Zelda sat there alone for a few moments before the door closed sharply behind her.

"Ms. Nohansen, I don't appreciate my staff giving demands, especially volunteers." Ganondorf sat down in his desk chair across from Zelda, a stern look across his face. He looked as if he was attempting to strike fear into Zelda, but she was not going to have any of it.

"I am not trying to make demands, Dr. Ganondorf. I am only attempting to do my job properly. Link and Ghirahim were both missing from their rooms when I arrived this afternoon and I was given no report as to what happened or where I should go from there. Moreover—Link has a family visitor who was being denied information on his well-being!"

"The more appropriate way to get the answers you seek is to ask, Ms. Nohansen."

Zelda had to stop herself from glaring and instead chose to grind her teeth. "That's currently what I am doing."

"No, you are demanding."

Zelda let out a sigh. There was no getting around this situation. It didn't matter what she said, he would just fire back with something else.

"Where are my patients, Dr. Ganondorf?" Zelda resorted to asking.

"They have been separated and are being spoken to about their actions. Once we clear them of being a danger to themselves and others, they both will be escorted to their rooms. Link is on lockdown for the rest of the week and Ghirahim is on lockdown for the rest of the day."

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Zelda exclaimed, though she was glad to find out that Link was not in a dark cell again. "On top of that, why does Ghirahim not have an equal punishment?"

"Do not question my methods. You are a volunteer and I am the doctor. I know what measures need to be taken. Link started the physical confrontation and therefore is receiving the appropriate punishment." Ganondorf stood from the desk. "Any more questions?" The tone of his voice signaled that he would refuse to discuss this further with Zelda.

Fumbling over her words Zelda spoke, "Yes, sir. Link has not had a family visit in ages. Please allow him to visit with his sister briefly before placing him in lockdown."

Ganondorf seemed to be ready to immediately disagree, but Zelda knew that he knew if he chose to deny this of her, she would not drop this issue and continue to harass him.

"Ten minutes," was all he said before he stalked out of his office. Zelda could hear him get on his radio after he left to tell the day staff to escort Link to the visitors room instead of his personal room.

When Zelda arrived back in the lobby she noticed that Linkle was gone and Malon was at the desk instead of the poor receptionist from earlier.

"Zelda! What in the world is going on? The guy I relieved looked like he was about to quit when I got here," Malon said.

Leaning on the desk, putting her face in her hands, she mumbled, "Link and Ghirahim got into another fight, had no idea, Link's sister showed up demanding to see him, and I had to figure it all out through Ganondorf."

Malon sat there with her mouth agape.

"You seem like you need a drink," she joked and Zelda rolled her eyes but nodded in response. "Maybe we can have a little fun after hours," she whispered.

"After today, I'm up for anything to be honest."

Malon spun around in her chair to express her joy before starting her daily work. Before she got fully into it she said, "Link is in the visitors room, so I suggest you go there so you can escort him back to his room...or so this sticky note says here."

Zelda tapped on the desk a few times in acknowledgment before heading to the visitors room. She had never actually been there herself, only walking past during her first few days at Skyview. The room was not that amazing, consisting of four white walls and pale furniture. Not many patients at Skyview had family that visited them.

When she got to the visitors room, Linkle was gesturing wildly with one foot on the coffee table. Link was sitting on the couch across from her, letting out a hearty laugh. Both turned at the same time to look at Zelda's arrival.

"Are you two twins?" was the first thing that left Zelda's mouth once she shut the door.

"Did I not mention that to you?" Link responded with a tone that he could have sworn he did. Zelda shook her head. "Well yeah, we are. I'm older though."

"By a couple minutes," Linkle rolled her eyes.

It was when Zelda got a bit closer to the two that she noticed a bruise underneath Link's eye. She slammed her hands down on the arm of the couch and leaned in close to Link's face, glaring at the bruise.

"Did Ghirahim do this?" she asked with an angry tone. "I swear if it's the last thing I do I'll..."

"Zelda..." Link said with a smile and patted her arm. "Don't worry yourself over it please. It's over and it happened."

"Please tell me it wasn't something stupid."

"It wasn't something stupid."

Zelda narrowed her eyes at Link, knowing that he was being a smart ass and trying to stop her from worrying too much about it.

"You two seem chummy," Linkle said from opposite the table, looking at them with crossed arms. Zelda looked embarrassed while Link had a grin on his face.

"I don't know what you mean!"

"You think?"

Linkle let out a laugh at the two of them before walking to stand next to Zelda. "Either way Link, Zelda has a point. I understand and support your motivations for asking the family to stop trying to appeal with the courts your time here, but you don't need to get physically hurt over it. Heroes are brave, not stupid!"

Link shared a laugh with his sister and Zelda glanced at the clock, knowing she would have to break up the family reunion. Linkle must have noticed and decided to wrap things up on her own.

"Well that's all the time I have for you, Link! My cukuoos are probably missing me dearly. And Epona has been enjoying me as a substitute for you," she winked.

"You better be taking good care of her!"

"Of course I am!" Linkle placed her hands on her hips when she said this. Looking over at Zelda she said, "Thanks for taking good care of my brother. I leave him in your hands. I'll be back to visit again soon."

Zelda and nodded and waved along with Link as Linkle left the visitors room. Letting out a sigh, Link rose from the couch and began to follow Zelda through the halls back to his room.

"How long am I supposed to be stuck here?" he asked when they got there. Zelda leaned against the doorframe as Link flopped back onto his bed.

"_Dr. _Ganondorf said a week," Zelda said, emphasizing doctor because of the day staff walking around.

"Man, it's going to be so boring," Link whined.

Zelda peered up and down the small halls of Ward D. When seeing no one aside from Tingle bouncing back and forth between his room and Navi's room, she slid into Links room and shut the door behind her. Link looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm working a double shift tonight. Malon and I are going to have a little fun with some drinks since today was so stressful. You're welcome to join us."

"The mayor's daughter is going to have drinks while on the clock?" Link taunted.

"I can retract my invitation you know."

Link stood from his spot on the bed and walked to stand in front Zelda. He was close enough that Zelda could feel him even though he wasn't touching her.

"It's been a _long _time since I had fun like that. Of course I'm in."

"Good," Zelda said breathlessly as they stared at each other. His eyes flicked to her lips and she swore he was going to kiss her. Her heart beat loudly against her chest to the point where she thought it was going to rip out.

Instead of kissing her, though, Link opted to flick her on the tip of her nose, causing Zelda to cry out in pain.

"So uncalled for!" Zelda complained as Link laughed at her.

In mock irritation, Zelda quickly turned on her heel with a huff and left Link's room, remembering to lock the door behind her.

* * *

Zelda had taken her break once the staff left for the night to drive down the road and stop at the store to buy some alcohol. Normally she wouldn't be condoning such behavior, especially at work, but she need to relax and wouldn't find any other time to do so.

When she got to the store, she stood in the aisle a long time, staring at the various intricate bottles. Zelda didn't drink often and therefore had no idea what she should buy.

"You look lost," a girl chuckled behind her. Zelda jumped slightly and looked down at a smaller girl with blue hair. She was wrapped in a white pea coat.

"Kind of," Zelda admitted.

"What are you trying to buy for?"

"Just three people. We need sort of a de-stressor."

The girl laughed and pulled a bottle of milkwine off the shelf. The bottle was labeled Chateau Romani. "I know it's a bit pricy, but it's really good stuff, it goes down easy, and it tastes good."

Zelda held the bottle in her hands and decided that it was worth it. And whatever they didn't finish she could keep for another special occasion.

"Thanks..." Zelda trailed off, not knowing the girl's name.

"Lana." She held out her hand for Zelda to take.

"Thanks Lana. I'm Zelda."

The two talked a bit more before going their separate ways in the store. Zelda decided to walk around a bit more and look at what else the store had to offer. She ended up standing near Lana again as the small girl was piling bottles of clear liquid into her basket. As Zelda was about to head up the counter to pay, she heard Lana mutter under her breath.

"Stupid Volga."

Zelda stopped in her tracks.

"Lana...did you say Volga?"

Lana turned around and looked frustrated. "Oh no, don't tell me you know that moron."

Zelda shook her head. "No, but I know of him. Do you know him?"

"Unfortunately," Lana grumbled, walking to the the front counter with Zelda. "He's dating my older sister Cia. Bit of a dick. Both he and my sister aren't nice people but at least my sister has a decent head on her shoulders."

Zelda knew it was a long shot, and quite risky bringing this up with a stranger, but she knew if she missed this shot she might not find any information on Volga again.

"Lana, do you mind if we exchange numbers? I have somewhere to be tonight but I want to ask you a couple things about Volga, if that's okay? That and I might need your alcohol knowledge in the future."

That seemed good enough for Lana and the two exchanged phone numbers before parting ways at the store. Zelda hopped in her car and headed back to Skyview. She had so many things she wanted to ask Lana about but this was her time to forget all of the insanity.

* * *

Zelda made all of her usual rounds for the night, even gathering enough courage to peek into Ghirahim's room. He seemed quite proud of himself, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a smirk on his face. His eyes flicked over to the small window that Zelda was looking through and she jumped back, unsettled by him.

Shaking that off, Zelda made her way to Link's room last so she could let him out and bring him to the lobby with her. When she unlocked and opened the door she stumbled upon Link without his shirt on. Link stood there with a grin while Zelda covered her face.

"Oh, god, sorry." Zelda managed to get out. "Please put your shirt on."

"Why?" Link teased, placing a hand on his hip.

"_Link." _Zelda responded. It wasn't like he was bad to look at. In fact, he had a very nice body. Zelda just couldn't handle the feeling she got when she saw him and was attempting to cover her embarrassment.

"Alright, all modest now."

Zelda rolled her eyes but lowered her hands from her face. Link was standing near her, grinning from ear to ear. His dark blond hair was shaggy and messed up from putting his shirt on.

"Ready to party?" Link asked as the two of them were leaving the ward.

"It's hardly going to be a party, Link."

"I dunno, Zelda. You invited me." He bumped shoulders with her jokingly, causing her to stumble to the side.

"There you two are!" Malon exclaimed from the desk. "I was beginning to think you were going to leave me out of the fun."

"There is no way we could do that, Malon. It was all your idea in the first place." Link walked to the front desk and began chatting to Malon. Zelda wrapped her cardigan closer to her and stood next to Link at the desk.

"I hope you're not a lightweight, Zelda. It will make this night not very fun at all."

Zelda pouted. "Why are you telling just me this? Link could very well be one too!"

Malon shook her head as she poured milkwine into the cups. "Nope! Link and I come from the same small town outside of Hyrule. We are basically raised to be able to handle our alcohol."

"You guys come from the same village? You never mentioned that Malon!"

Malon laughed, "sorry, sorry. It just never came to my mind to tell you. Plus Link and I only met once or twice as kids really, right?"

Link nodded, taking a cup from Malon. "Yeah. I mean, I thought you knew I knew who she was. I told you she was cool and everything before."

Zelda thought about that. It didn't mean much to her at the time but now it makes more sense. Malon doesn't work with patients so it wouldn't make sense on how he would know anything about her unless he knew her from outside Skyview.

"I see."

Malon saw an opening to start teasing Zelda and ran with it. "Oh Zelda, no need to be all jealous about it. Link might know me, but I'm sure you're all he thinks about."

Zelda went red while Link let out a laugh. Zelda grabbed her own cup and began sipping the milk wine angrily, causing the other two to chuckle at her actions once more.

"Sorry, Zel, you're just so much fun to tease. I'll stop," Malon said with a cheeky grin.

Zelda waved her off and pulled up some lobby chairs for her and Link to sit on so they could enjoy themselves behind the desk along with Malon. She had in some CD of hers and was playing some music at a low volume. Link and Malon were drinking the milkwine like it was water and chatting away while Zelda sat between them, slowing sipping on her cup.

"What's the craziest thing you've done, Zelda?" Link asked her, bringing Zelda into the conversation.

"What do you mean?"

"Like...did you ever break the law or skip out on school?" Malon suggested.

"No..." Zelda trailed off trying to think of something that she had done. She really didn't do anything in particular to get her in trouble. "Oh! There was one time when my family went to Outset Island for a vacation and I decided to explore the cliffs without permission. That got me stuck in a dark cave for a few hours alone." The memory made her shudder. That is why she didn't like to be locked in small spaces.

"What, really?" Link asked in shock.

"Yeah, I was like eight. Just a stupid kid."

And the conversations continued with that nature. The three of them fired questions at each other and learned things about each other that they probably wouldn't have asked before. Link used to be an avid horse rider and competed in competitions as a kid. He also pissed off his grandmother so bad once that she kicked him out and made him live in the woods alone for a few days. Malon also modeled swimsuits while in high school but was fired when her habit of drinking too much milk from her family's ranch would bloat her up and get in the way of shoots.

When Malon excused herself to the restroom it was just Zelda and Link sitting behind the desk. Zelda was feeling slightly dizzy and happy, but other than that she knew she hadn't drank too much and was in her right mind. Link, on the other hand, look perfectly fine despite how many cups he had. When Zelda complained that it wasn't fair that he could drink with zero repercussions after being in here so long, he just laughed at her.

"This is nice," Link said, leaning against the chair. "I know I'm still in this damn facility, but just sitting out here, having fun, is nice. Been a long time since I could just chat with people without rules and regulations."

"It's pretty shitty, huh," Zelda mumbled. "I mean, you could have done so much with your life at this point and because you were being a decent human being you got stuck here."

"It's okay, Zelda. I mean it _did _help with my anger issues. I mean I may not have what Ganondorf put on my file, but I still have some issues."

Zelda turned and faced him in his chair. "I know but still, it sucks..." she pouted, puffing her cheeks out.

"Why does it suck?" Link poked one of her cheeks, forcing her to blow some air out.

"Cause _this _would be so much easier..." Zelda gestured between the two of them.

Link nodded seriously and leaned back in his chair, not really focusing on anything. "I know what you mean. If it isn't obvious already, I like you Zelda. I really do. But us being in the situation that we are, I don't want to risk your job or anything like that just because of my feelings."

Zelda stared at him in awe. She didn't think he would come right out and say, let alone as bashfully as he did. She didn't know if it was the buzz from the milkwine or just tired of denying it and making things awkward, but she wanted to come out and admit her feelings for Link as well.

"I like you too...I mean I think I do. I've never really had feelings for anyone before so I don't really know how to handle them. And it's harder to figure them out when I know I have to have boundaries..." Zelda looked away from him and stared at her feet.

"We don't have to have boundaries right now."

Zelda looked over at him and was surprised to see a slight blush covering his face. Before she could get any words out though, Link had leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. The feeling was indescribable to Zelda that all she could think to do was close her eyes and place her hands on his knee that was closest to her. He reached up with both his hands and and placed them on the sides of her face so he could kiss her more deeply. Zelda's heart was pounding in her chest and her skin felt electrified.

When the two broke for air, Zelda didn't know what to say. She just stared into his eyes since the hands on her face didn't allow her to look anywhere else.

"I've been dying to do that for a long time."

"You can do it again," Zelda grinned, gaining some courage. Link returned the grin before leaning forward and capturing her lips again. This time Zelda wasn't caught off guard and kissed him back with more ferocity than before, even tugging at his bottom lip gently, earning a quiet groan from the back of Link's throat.

"I didn't expect to come back to a make-out session," Malon piped up from across the room after a few moments. "Not that I disapprove or anything."

Zelda ripped away from Link as fast as she could, standing quickly and almost falling over as the alcohol hit her as she stood. Link whined loudly, giving Malon the biggest pout he could muster.

"You couldn't just keep quiet and hide for a bit?" Link grumbled. "It's not like I'll get another chance to kiss her for a while."

"Sorry, I'll totally just leave for a bit..." Malon motioned behind her and began to turn slowly around.

"No! No!" Zelda said, her face beet red. "I should...uh, do my rounds." She tripped over her feet a couple times before grabbing her keys and scurrying off to Ward D.

Malon sheepishly took her seat at the computer and snuck a look at Link who was giving her a glare that could of killed her.

"I'm sorry!" she pressed her hands together in apology. "I'll make it up to you, I swear!"

"You better!"

* * *

_I was on a roll yesterday and just kept writing after I published the previous chapter. So it may be a week or so until I publish the next one—maybe. But I hope you enjoyed it! I know some people might be turned off due to my choice of Linkle over Ayrll, but honestly? I like Linkle more. And it's fanfiction so I can chose to do what I want. But I hope I can portray Linkle in a what that you all enjoy and accept! _

_I hope you liked this chapter! Things are going to get a bit more serious from here on in. _


	10. Chapter 10

It had been about a week since Zelda last worked at Skyview. One of the other night personnel asked to switch a few days with her at the beginning of the week, and the last few days were days that she requested off because of an assignment that she had due. Not that she could focus on anything at all aside from Link. She missed him. After she ran away from that kiss, the three of them decided to call it a night before it got too late and Link headed to bed. It wasn't left on an awkward note, but Zelda could tell that there was some unresolved tension since the two of them had just confessed their feelings but hadn't been able to really act on them.

On top of that, she was still trying to figure out this Volga person and how they were connected to Ganondorf. Zelda had texted Lana earlier in the week, asking her to meet up with her this weekend to discuss Volga. And if he was dating Lana's sister, she might even have the chance to put a face to the name. It was another step closer to getting Skyview shut down and helping the patients get the treatment that they needed. The thought excited Zelda to no end.

But since it was only Friday, Zelda had to finish up her homework before heading off to another night shift. Never had Zelda thought she would get butterflies over the idea of going to Skyview, but that is her reality now. She laughed at the irony.

"What's so funny?" a strong voice said.

Zelda jumped at her desk, placing a hand over her heart. "Impa, don't sneak up on me."

A small grin crossed her face, "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

Zelda rolled her eyes at Impa's behavior. "What is it that you need?"

The older woman shook her head and perched at the end of Zelda's desk, looking over her work. Zelda could tell that she wasn't actually looking over her assignment as much as just making it look like she was doing something.

"I was just checking up on you. You've been working hard to catch up on your homework while still working at Skyview. And don't think that I don't know your still playing amateur detective."

Zelda opened her mouth to retort but one look from Impa made her close it. She knew Impa didn't like her meddling in the issues, but it isn't like she could help it. Every ounce in her being told her that she had to fight this. No person deserved to be treated in the manner that these people were and she couldn't just stand idly by and watch it happen and be able to sleep at night.

"You know why I have to do this, right?" Zelda mumbled.

Impa turned and faced the window, crossing her arms. "I know. You've always been this kind of person and I wouldn't expect any less from you. I've already told you this."

Zelda smiled at Impa when she turned to look back. "Thank you."

"When the time is right, call upon those at Skyloft."

Zelda nodded and Impa placed a reassuring hand on Zelda's shoulder before leaving to go about the rest of her business throughout the manor. Turning back to her assignments, Zelda placed her head in her hands and ruffled her hair in exasperation. The buzzing of her phone brought Zelda back to reality. It was a text from Malon telling her how excited she was to have another shift with her. That brought a smile to Zelda's face.

"Alright, let's finish this," Zelda said to herself before throwing herself back into her work.

* * *

It was a warmer day than it had been this month, melting a lot of the snow from the recent storm. Her coat was slung over her arm as she walked into the lobby of Skyview. Malon peeked from around the corner of the computer and grinned.

"Hey girl! I've missed you!"

Zelda walked over and leaned on the counter, her long blond hair falling over her shoulder. "I've missed you too. I had to catch up on a lot of work from classes. Plus Groose asked me if we could switch some shifts, which I thought was odd. Groose doesn't work very often."

Malon nodded. "I thought it was weird too. He works barely four hours a week and yet he was here for four days. He even seemed confused as to why he was here too."

"I wonder why…"

Zelda shrugged. She didn't have time to think about that now. Her mind was running a million miles a minute and adding on why Groose wanted extra hours was something she didn't need to add to her plate at the moment.

"Go put your stuff down and see lover boy. He's been dying to see you."

Zelda crinkled her nose up at Malon before heading to the locker room. She wanted to see Link just as bad but she had her job to focus on before flirting with Link. Agitha was probably worried sick about her ants. Zelda had asked Malon to make sure they had food while she was gone, not that Malon had any desire to look at them. Zelda threw her coat in the locker, grabbed the ant farm and her keys before heading to the ward.

First stop was Agitha's and the door was cracked open with Agitha lying on the bed, facing the ceiling. The young girl flew up at the sight of Zelda and ran towards her, gently prying the ant from Zelda before looking at the black dots that were scurrying around the inside.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here so you could see them," Zelda apologized.

Agitha placed the ant farm on the bedside table before wrapping the older blond in a hug. It startled Zelda. She didn't think that she cared for anyone aside from her bugs. Wrapping her arms around the shoulders of the smaller girl, she ran her hand over her hair before pulling back to smile at her.

"Now, I'm sure they missed you, so why don't you spend some time with them while I check on the others?"

"You're right," Agitha said with a smile. She made herself comfortable in a corner and Zelda took one last look at her before closing the door behind her and heading off to Tingle's room.

As expected, Tingle was more than happy to see her back. He launched himself off the bed and into her arms before she could make it through the door.

"Oh Miss Zelda! How I've missed you!" he laughed, bouncing up and down. Zelda gave a laugh before sitting him down on the bed.

"It was only a few days Tingle."

"I know but Mr. Goose isn't as nice as you. The fairies don't like him as much as you."

The two of them talked a bit and Tingle informed her that there hadn't been any incidents between Ghirahim and Link since she had been gone and things had been mostly quiet. Zelda got Tingle's medicine together and bid him goodnight not long after that before moving onto Navi's room next.

She was already in bed when Zelda peeked in but offered a warm "welcome back" before turning over to hide under the covers. Zelda smiled at that, smug that she had gotten Navi to warm up to her.

Turning around, she came face to face with Ghirahim's door. There was a dark feeling in her gut, one she wanted to go away as fast as possible. She could easily walk away and not even look in his room, but she was tired of being afraid of him. Her fear was causing her to neglect her duties. She had a job to uphold and his care was just as important, no matter what his involvement with Ganondorf was.

She placed her hand on the knob before taking a deep breath and cracking the door open. Ghirahim was perched on his bed, an arm hanging over his knee. He tilted his head to look at her with a dark stare.

"Good evening, Ghirahim," Zelda said stiffly, placing the white paper cup of medicine on the desk closest to the door. "I'll be back in a few hours to make sure you have taken these. It's lights out so get ready for bed."

She turned and walked back towards the door before Ghirahim spoke again. "You don't want to stay here, pretty nurse? I can show you that I'm not that bad of a guy."

The tone in his voice was not one of comfort and it was dripping with venom. Zelda looked back at him with hard eyes before turning around and walking out the room, locking the door and pulling it tight. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she swallowed hard.

Her mind trailed to Link and it brought a smile and a calming effect to her. Heading down to his room, she knocked before slowly unlocking the door and peeking her head inside. Link's messy blond hair was nowhere to be seen and she frowned before pushing the door completely open and stepping inside.

"Link?" Zelda called, looking around the room.

Out from behind the door jumped out Link, causing Zelda to leap back a few feet. "Jeez!" she cried.

Link was doubled over with laughter, pushing the door closed as he held onto it for support. Zelda glared at Link with false anger. What was with everyone and startling her today?

"Sorry, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up," he told her once he calmed down.

Walking over to her, he placed his hands on her cheeks, pushing them together as she pouted at him. Link leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips, causing the heat to rise into Zelda's cheeks.

"I missed you," Zelda confessed.

Link smiled at her, heading to his bed and collapsing onto it. Zelda followed suit, sitting next to him with her hands on her lap. Compared to Link, she was much stiffer.

"Well good, because I missed you too!" He looked up at her with a grin. Propping himself up on his elbow he said, "My sister visited the other day and was asking about you."

"Oh, was she?"

"Yeah. She was grilling me with all kinds of questions. Asking me if we were dating, if we kissed, you know."

Zelda blushed and looked at her hands. "Are we dating?"

Link was quiet a moment. The silence made Zelda nervous. Had she said something wrong? Should she have not asked that question?

"Sorry if it was a stupid question. I've never done this before."

He pushed himself up so he was sitting upright with her.

"Well we like each other right? Things between us are just going to have to be a bit unconventional for a while. I mean, we can't really go on dates and stuff while I am in here. That doesn't mean we can't be together, though."

Zelda nodded with a small smile.

"And don't worry about never doing this before Zelda. That just makes it more fun for me," he winked at her and she blushed and pushed his shoulder causing him to laugh. He grabbed Zelda around the waist and pulled her down onto the bed with him, with her resting on his chest. Zelda was embarrassed at their position but at the same time she didn't want to move.

"Once I get out of here I'll take you on a fancy dinner date and treat you like a princess," he murmured, playing with a strand of Zelda's hair that fell over her shoulder.

"I'll hold you to that."

Zelda and Link stared at each other for a few moments then and the idea that he cared that much about her brought warmth to her heart. She wasn't even nervous anymore as much as she was just happy. Happy to look at him. Happy to see him. Happy to just be with him. Leaning down, she captured his lips with hers. Link responded boldly, placing his arms on her waist and pulling her closer to they were flush against each other with Zelda fitting snugly between his legs. She placed her hands on the sides of his neck and deepened the kiss between them, rewarding her with a groan from the back of Link's throat.

Rolling towards the wall, Link positioned himself on top of Zelda and pulled back, brushing her hair out of her face. The two of them were short of breath and flushed. No words passed between the two until Link let out what was a cross between a snort and a laugh.

"What?" Zelda asked, rolling her eyes at him.

"I never thought I'd be making out with my nurse."

"Well I didn't think I'd come here and make out with one of my patients, so there's that."

"Well who could resist this?" Link chuckled, motioning to himself.

Zelda rolled her eyes once more and pushed him backwards so he was sitting on her lower half and she could sit up herself. Link ran his fingers down the side of her face and gave her a small kiss.

"So…" Zelda began.

"Oh no," Link groaned, "what is it?"

"I ran into someone last week that knows that Volga guy. I've set up a time to meet with her and figure out who the heck he is and what he has to do with this place," Zelda gave a short summary. Her meeting with Lana was at lunch tomorrow and luckily she'd be able to fill Link in during her shift that night.

"How'd you manage that?"

"Eavesdropping on conversations is kind of helpful," Zelda grinned.

"Oh, rebel," Link laughed. "Be careful though. You don't know if this person could turn around that let him know you're asking about him. And then Ganondorf could find out."

"I don't think I have anything to worry about but I'll be careful, I promise," Zelda promised. "I'm close to gathering enough information to bring to the authorities at Skyloft. Combine it with your testimony, we have a sure fire win."

Link grinned. "I sure hope so. I can't wait to get back to the ranch," he flopped onto his back with a stretch of his arms.

Checking her watch, Zelda figured it was time to get back to the front desk. Malon was probably coming up with wild reasons that she was taking so long and she wouldn't have been too far off either. Link could see that Zelda was getting ready to leave.

"You gotta go already? You don't want to spend your whole shift cuddling with me?" he teased, pulling her flush against his chest again.

"As much as I would love to, I can't. I do want to work too, you know."

"Well, you gotta promise we can carry on later," he said with a wink.

Zelda's cheeks tinted pink before nodding bashfully and giving Link a kiss on the cheek. She stood, straightening out her hair and her uniform, and heading back out to the lobby, leaving Link's door open so he could come and go as he pleased.

Malon watched Zelda walk back out with a huge smile on her face.

"Your cap is on backwards, Zel."

* * *

_HOLY FUCKING SHIT GUYS. I'M SO SORRY. I'M THE WORST. ROAST ME ON A FIRE. I'm honestly so sorry this took so long. I had writer's block and I felt so bad because I kept getting reviews on how people wanted me to continue. I've got a good idea of what I want to do for the next chapter, so it shouldn't take another six months to crank this one out, I promise. And it'll be important plot as well. I think there are about four or five more chapters left. _

_I also have a Kingdom Hearts oneshot I've been working on and I promised to have that up and I didn't and I'm just the literal worst. I've got a full time job and I've graduated from college so life has just been crazy. But I hope you enjoyed and please review!_


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